Scripting a tragi-comedy : Not yet time for PR ?
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 07 2011 -

If not for the overwhelming sense of tragedy to the story, this would have been the perfect script for a comedy or more appropriately buffoonery.

To Chief Minister O Ibobi goes the dubious distinction of directing, producing and scripting the drama that has been staged on the National Highways since August 1 this year and ably supporting him in this are the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee and the United Naga Council, Manipur.

And so it is that while the people have had to spend one or two nights at a stretch in long queues in front of the petrol pumps to get fuel for Rs 400 or Rs 300 in Imphal and housewives are pressured to adjust the kitchen budget in the face of the escalating costs of essential commodities, Chief Minister O Ibobi decided to go to Tokyo with wife and son for company.

This is chapter I of the dash of comedy added to the tragedy that the agitations on the National Highways have spawned since August 1 this year.

The United Naga Council followed suit and decided to replace the total bandh in Naga areas with economic blockade and not to be outdone in the scoring chart, the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee decided to drop the general strike from the ambit of its agitation and stick to highway blockade alone. This may be included in chapter II of the said script.

Call it ignorance, but terms such as highway blockades and economic blockades, general strikes and bandhs, etc have only gone on to add to the confusion that has become part and parcel of our general understanding of Manipur.

So in place of total bandh there is economic blockade and general strike has been dropped with only the highway blockade in force.

Does this mean that the queues at petrol pumps will ease now ? Does this mean that prices of essential commodities will stabilise ?

Are these gestures some sort of a demonstration of empathy with the sufferings of the people ?

Or are they nothing more than some exercise in name changing or adopting some fresh tactical courses ?

Opting for economic blockade in place of total bandh, dropping general strike from the purview of the highway blockade are nothing less than jokes played on the sensitivity of the people and with each passing day it is getting clearer and clearer that the plight of the common people figure nowhere in the consciousness of the Government and those enforcing the agitations on the highways.

This is unacceptable and it is surprising to see not a whimper of protest escaping from the mouth of the people who have been knocked around between an insensitive Government and the two dramas being staged on the highways.

That this is not the first time that the National Highways have been cut off and will not be the last tells many a tale and the time is long overdue to effect certain far reaching changes. The only question is whether the people are up to it or not.

The UNC and the SHDDC are at the two extreme end of the core issue of Sadar Hills as a district but the common link that ties them together is too obvious to be missed.

The attitude of “damn the people. They don't matter as long as we achieve our target” is writ large on the economic blockade as well as the highway blockade.

With a Government that is happy twiddling its thumb and watching the people plunge deeper and deeper into the depth of despair and helplessness, something has to give. This nonsense cannot be allowed to go on forever. Our stand on the matter is simple and clear.

If the Government thinks and it seems they do, that the demand to upgrade Sadar Hills to the status of a district is justified then it should go ahead and do it.

If it is not possible then it should have the gumption to say No. But there should be no twiddling of the thumb when the lifelines of the people are cut off for more than 30 days.

The highways should be cleared. It is the job of the Government to do this. If restrictions under CrPC 144 can be imposed on NH-37, then what is stopping the Government from doing the same thing on NH-2 ?

Why can't the Government remove the blinkers from its eyes and realise there can be no selective enforcement of the laws at its disposal.

On the other hand, it should also be made clear that the decision to grant district status is the sole prerogative of the Government and not some ethnic based organisations like the UNC, however influential it may be.

The indifference of the Government to the plight of the people is criminal. By leaving the highways to the fancy and whims of the blockade supporters, it has abdicated its right to rule and in such a case, Delhi should step in. Where are the other 11 mighty ones in the Council of Ministers ?

Aren't they equal partners in the business of governance ? Why don't they have the moral strength to go to Sadar Hills now ? Suddenly President's Rule does not sound like a bitter pill.

The time to give the marching order to this Government is well at hand. The nonsense has been allowed to go on for too long.

Just because Mr Okram Ibobi Singh can afford to go to Tokyo at this juncture, it does not mean that the people here can go shopping to Delhi or even Gauhati and replenish their cupboards and refill their LPG cylinders.

This is as plain as it can be put. This is the tragi-comedy that has been penned by all the players mentioned above.