Have Cake and Wake Up call : Blockade jamboree
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 21 2011 -

Manipur Peoples Party (MPP) Flag

"It is time the Government wakes up." Good.

The only thing is whether the very set of people from whose mouth these words have come out are awake or not.

After nearly 50 days of the crippling economic blockade on the National Highways, when one has to shell out anything between Rs 45 and Rs 50 for a kilogramme of potatoes, Rs 100 or so for a kilogramme of tomatoes, Rs 70 to Rs 90 for a kilogramme of onions, Rs 140 or so for a litre of petrol in the black market, the Manipur People's Party has suddenly come to the realisation that the time has come to wake up the Government to the suffering of the people.

If this is not deriding the people or deriving some sadistic pleasure from the situation, then what is ?

That the MPP has cycled its way to infamy has long been felt and nowhere has this been demonstrated as clearly as now. Fifty days of crippling blockade and what does it say ? That it would approach Delhi to pull down the Congress led SPF Government if it does not take up steps to end the economic blockade !

If the oldest regional political party in the State does not have anything better to say then the best option before it would be to remain quiet and maintain the status quo, that is confine itself to a state of political limbo.

This silence, brought about by years of being led by political pariahs and party hoppers, was tolerable, but when they open their mouth and expect the people to digest the nonsense they spin then it is time to draw the line and tell them to shut up.

It is a shame that the MPP which once stood shoulder to shoulder with the Congress should be reduced to a whimpering, weak kneed political party, unable to break free from its self imposed "Behind Kangjei-bung" obsession.

It is tough to decide to whom the crown for making ridiculous statements should go to-the SPF Government for announcing last month that full security would be provided on the National Highways after August 15 or the MPP for its wake up call.

There are many reasons why arrogance has become the inalienable characteristic of the SPF Government and chief among these is the state of comatose in which the Opposition parties have worked themselves into.

Why talk only about the present economic blockade ? Why has the Government not been nailed on its failure to upgrade NH-37 to the status of a National Highway in the six years since 2005 ? Why has no worthwhile question been raised over the intermittently long time it has taken for the Imphal Sewerage Project to see the light of day ?

For nearly five years, the MPP has been anything but an Opposition party.

On the contrary it has been acting and taking on the role of the subservient vassal of the ruling Front with aplomb and pontificating on the non-performance of the SPF Government, after nearly 50 days of economic blockade sounds ridiculous.

In as much as the Government should be held responsible for the suffering of the people, it also stands true that a good part of the blame should go to the Opposition parties.

It is not only the parties in the Government which have failed to deliver the goods but also the Opposition parties and nowhere is this more apparent than the "time to wake up" announcement of the MPP on September 19.

Apart from the MPP, due credit too should be given to the CPI, courtesy one of its senior leaders for adding more colour to the blockade jamboree. Here too, after nearly 50 days of the economic blockade, the senior Left leader had the gumption to say that if the blockade is not lifted within three days, then the Government would act.

This announcement was made on September 19, in connection with the 115th birth anniversary function of Hijam Irabot at Andro Pureilomba. There is nothing avuncular in the announcement of the elderly CPI leader and this takes the CPI right there to the spot where the Congress and the MPP stand in aloof grandeur and arrogance.

Time the Government wakes up ? Action after three days ?

Marie Antoinette entered the hall of infamy for her "have cake" announcement and there is no reason why the people of Manipur should not ensure that the 'time for the Government to wake up," and "action after three days" announcements should not follow the developments the world witnessed after the "have cake" announcement.