Vote for BJP but protest CAB : Indecisive stand
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 04 2019 -
The stand of Manipur People Against CAB (MANPAC) has never been in doubt.
And the public demonstration staged today (Oct 3) at different parts of the State was perfectly in line with the hard stand it had pronounced earlier.
The interesting question is, just where does the BJP led Government at Imphal stand on this.
Moreover where do the people stand ?
The latter question is important in the face of the fact that no movement can be seen to be successful or even having an impact without the support of the people.
This question has been raised in the backdrop of the fact that it was the BJP candidate who was elected in the recently held Lok Sabha elections from the Inner Parliamentary Constituency.
Significant to note that the BJP candidate, the redoubtable RK Ranjan was elected after Manipur emerged as the epicentre of the protest against the proposed CAB in the early part of this year.
Couple this with the fact that the BJP had made it clear that if voted back to power, it would go ahead and enact CAB.
The natural question that follows is then, if the people are so opposed to CAB then why vote for the BJP candidate ?
Was the very act of electing the BJP candidate a sort of a stand endorsing the decision of the party to implement CAB if voted back to power ?
This is a poser that CPI leader Dr M Nara, who was also a candidate in the just held Lok Sabha elections, has raised and fittingly so.
Not surprisingly the footage of Dr M Nara raising this particular poser has gone viral on the social media and the disgust with the reality has also been articulated by quite a number of individuals on the social media.
A case of the right hand not knowing what its left hand is doing.
Election in a democracy means backing a candidate or a party on the line of its promises and earlier performance.
Here is a case of the BJP having had the sincerity to say that it will go ahead with the CAB if voted back to power and here is a people now protesting against the proposed move of the BJP led Government but backing a candidate of the said party in the just held
Lok Sabha elections.
The disconnect between the aspirations of the people and their voting behaviour cannot be more farcical than this and this is the time for all right thinking man to sincerely search their soul.
Now with MANPAC already having launched its protest in line with the decision taken during a meeting of NEFIP, a pan North East body, more such protests can be expected in the coming days.
Fine, for protest is all part and parcel of democracy, but the more important question is whether the voice of protest raised by the people will be taken seriously by New Delhi.
This is important for the need to portray that the voice of the people is sincere cannot be over emphasised here.
Again questions may well be raised at the BJP led Government at Imphal and where they stand on the issue.
Given the internal bickering within the BJP led Government, will the Government have the time and the inclination to address this question sincerely ?
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