TSE Loathsome Indifference 20070330

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Editorial of the week

Loathsome Indifference

Courtesy: The Sangai Express 30th March, 2007

The manner in which the Congress led SPF Government has managed to adopt the ostrich like stand over the death of the two kids from Senapati is simply amazing.

Or is the deafening silence maintained by the Chief Minister another way of telling the people that the chilling murder of the two boys does not matter to the survival of the Government ?

Or is the Chief Minister more concerned about working out the arithmetic of how to keep his flock of MLAs happy and contented and chart out ways to nip any move that could pose a challenge to his leadership ?

The skeletal remains of the two kids found on a hillock, a young girl breaks down on seeing the remains, DGP Y Joykumar and Medico Legal Expert Dr Ksh Manglem, rally being taken out and students paying their respect at the public ground

Whichever way one looks at it, the complete silence maintained by the Government over the tragedy that has unfolded at Senapati is a disturbing reminder of how insensitive those in positions of power and authority have become.

Here are two kids, just 10 years old, who were kidnapped more than hundred days back and were later brutally murdered and on the other hand we have a Government which has not deemed it fit to even come out with an official statement condemning the incident or offering its condolence to the bereaved family members and the people of Manipur, particularly the people of Senapati.

How does one explain this insensitive silence on the part of the Government ?

How about the other political parties and political leaders ?

Such callousness to a crime of this magnitude says something about the mentality of the political class in the State and in a way it may be said to be reflective of the moral decay that we see all around, among the Government servants ranging from the white collared babus down to the lowest ranked employee and among the political netas to their hangers on.

Given the fact that the law enforcing agencies, particularly the police were caught on the wrong foot and had no idea about how to go ahead with the kidnapping case of the two boys, the indifference shown by the Government to the issue is akin to adding salt to the wounds suffered by the bereaved family members.

The Chief Minister may have sent his assurances through the DGP that financial assistance will be given to the bereaved family members, but this is simply not enough.

We had expected the political leaders, led by no one less than the Chief Minister to convey their sorrow and grief to the family members of the two deceased boys.

The charged atmosphere at Senapati following the detection of the skeletal remains of the two boys may have stopped the Chief Minister from personally going to the district headquarters, but surely he could have issued an official statement or addressed the people of the district through the media to share their grief.

Maybe the scenario might have been different if the skeletal remains were found before the just concluded Assembly election !

It is also a matter of concern that the incident at Senapati did not evoke the kind of response that we had expected from other parts of the State.

True there were condemnations galore, but something more concrete, not a bandh or a general strike, but piling pressure on the Government and those in the know to come out in the open and give a detailed account of their findings should be pursued vigorously.

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