The trials and tribulations of Ph Parijat
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: July 23 2011 -
Agriculture, Labour & Employment Minister, Ph Parijat has become unpopular in certain sections of the society. The resentment assumes significance because there is a charge that he has acted against the principles of his party, the Communist Party of India (CPI).
The CPI is an ideology based party and the party projects itself more as a peoples’ movement rather than a party based on electoral politics. In other words the ideology is more important than the party itself.
Ph Parijat has been charged that he has acted against the party ideology. This was expressed by farmers of Naodakhong Makha Leikai in Bishnupur district in a public meeting on July 19 at their community hall.
President of Lousal, L Ranjit said CPI Manipur stood for the people to protest against price rise in the state but that as Agriculture Minister, Ph Parijat has been apathetic to the problems of farmers because he has been unable to prevent the sale of fertilizers at highly inflated prices.
In an obviously related action Parijat has released the amount of fertilizers procured by the state so far. How far this will placate the irate farmers, only he and God knows.
That political big shots have interfered heavily in the distribution and sale of fertilizers has become increasingly clear. But Parijat has not spelt out his problems and this is a cause of worry. He needs to speak out not so much for the general public but more for the farmers to understand the issues that impacts their lives.
Is he just being dull and inactive or is he being arm twisted? Unless and until he explains the constrictions he faces we can only assume he is a man who cannot deliver. In which case the charge of Agriculture should be divested from him and instead the charge of Weight and Measures should be entrusted to him. The CPI's position in Manipur is tenuous.
It is a party at a cross roads. India's economic success story has blunted its ideological edge. It can remain relevant only if the central government continues to dither in diversifying its huge wealth to reach the vast number of underprivileged people. Should that happen, then the CPI and other left parties will become just foot notes in India's history.
Here in Manipur the CPI has chosen to posturing, blowing hot and cold. On the one hand it is cranking up a stand for an alternative government minus the Congress. On the other hand it talks of a shared government which includes the Congress.
In a peculiar political stance the party always makes sure it has at least one foot in the Congress household. It is quite possible that the party is suffering from a political heat stroke an totally exhausted by trying to be relevant.
If this is indeed the actual predicament afflicting Ph Parijat one can understand why he refuses to let the fertilizer issue be a hair raising concern to him. He needs calm, balm and solitude.
Continuous worrying and fretting affects the blood pressure, and for his health the minister should take leave of politics for a while. He can always come back rejuvenated to tackle problems come hell or high water, or for that matter, fertilizers and farmers.
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