Undoing the collective efforts
- Imphal Times Editorial :: November 06 2016 -

There is a palpable air of urgency that is starting to be felt amongst the public, if albeit very faintly for the time being.

Various development and improvement projects and schemes have been on the anvil and we can often catch the subtle nuances of the so called leaders and political parties beginning to warm up to the public, with the ruling party trying to play down the incidents that could, and most surely would be used with added glitz and effects against them by the oppositions who are ever vigilant to catch those at the helm of affairs at present wrong footing on any issue of which there apparently is no dearth of.

In a society, of which ours is not an exception, where the institution of politics has been reduced to a game of one-upmanship and an avenue of securing personal gains rather than the noble activities of governing according to a set beliefs as is supposed to be, the only real losers, the butt of all jokes and the unwary beneficiaries of various Government largesse has been the common people all these while.

Having said that, it would be immature thinking and rather irrational to raise a hue and cry about, when, in retrospect, the real reason behind the present political scenario with all the accompanying myriad defects and resultant reflections in the socio-economic conditions has been our own doing all along.

This is not to mean everyone that has exercised their voting rights- in fact, there are a few who have used their rights to choose their own representatives without being influenced by money or power nor promises of personal benefits and gains- has thrown their personal integrity and diligence to the wind.

The present system of voting to choose one’s representatives in the affairs of governance is becoming more of an open marketplace- rather an auction house where the rights are offered up to the highest bidder.

This only emboldens the elected persons to concentrate on maximizing the returns on their “investments” during the election campaigns, as well as creating healthy “buffer stocks” for the next election rather than in overseeing the development works and schemes which they are elected for.

The encouraging upsurge in the participative mode of the people on various issues of the society as witnessed very recently is a clear indication of the growing awareness and sensitivity of the common people towards the positives and negatives of governance.

Yet it seems that a few amongst us have once again let themselves down and succumbed to the primal need for instant gratification by selling their rights for a pittance, an urge most humans have learnt to control.

The reported assurance of the ECI to look into the allegations of proxy voting and exceptionally high voter turnout experienced in certain polling stations which are incidentally the strongholds of the ruling party clearly shows that some of us are still missing the plot, and are holding themselves, and the society alongside, down in the pits.

So long as there are such rationally and morally challenged individuals in our midst, the unscrupulous element will still hold sway in the society.