A popular Govt: A better option ? :: Questions and more questions
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: May 28, 2025 -

They have the number yet they are unable to come forward and stake claim to form the Government.

What could be the reason?

More importantly, would the return of a popular Government do better than the present dispensation and take Manipur nearer to the understanding of normalcy?

There can obviously be no answer in black and white and perhaps it is because of this that the BJP MLAs have not been able to project anyone around who they can flock to lay claim for Government formation.

For nearly two years, that is from May 3, 2023 evening till February 13, 2025 Manipur was under a BJP led Government and N Biren was at the helm of affairs as Chief Minister until he was asked to put in his paper on February 9, 2025.

So Manipur has been directly under Delhi with its chosen man AK Bhalla as the Governor, for over three months now but has situation improved?

Or was situation better when a popular Government under Chief Minister N Biren was in place?

Or more importantly would situation have taken a better turn if a popular Government was in place?

Equally important too is the question if the prevailing situation has compelled the voice or demand for the return of a popular Government to grow more audible?

These are all questions at the moment, but the fact stands that Manipur has been on the boil since the evening of May 3, 2023 and other than directly bringing the place under President's Rule from February 13, 2025, the stand of Delhi to the unfolding situation here has been one of indifference.

Till February 13, 2025 Manipur was under a popular Government, but was the Chief Minister given the right to exercise his authority as the first among equals? Delhi will have the answer, but the very fact that the then Chief Minister was stripped of the post of Chairman of the Unified Command said so many things.

It is not without reason why it is a given that the Chief Secretary and DGP of a State of the Indian Union are appointed on the prerogative of the Chief Minister and the question is whether the Chief Secretary and the DGP were appointed as per the wishes of the then Chief Minister?

Delhi has not made things clear at all and it is amid this that the uproar over the directive of the Mahar Regiment to conceal the word Manipur from the bus of the State Transport Department has literally crippled Imphal and the valley districts for the last many days.

This is the present reality and it is amid this reality that the question why the BJP MLAs and their supporters are unable to project a person as the next Chief Minister and rally around him to stake claim for the next Government formation is fast gaining traction?

A rallying point.

Or is it something more than the BJP MLAs and their supporters failing to find a person around who they can rally around and put forward that they are ready to form the next popular Government?

Is it a case of Delhi still not willing to take a look at the possibility of a popular Government coming back?

If so then how long will Manipur continue to be under the PR. dispensation?

These questions have emerged in the face of the present voice of protests that have erupted across the valley of Manipur with Imphal as the epicentre.

And it is against this reality that the demand for the return of a popular Government has emerged more strongly in the last couple of days.

The call of Congress MLA Th Lokeshwar to the BJP MLAs to take their own independent stand should be understood beyond the words delivered.

The question of importance at this point of time is whether the BJP MLAs and their supporters are confident that they can take Manipur closer to the understanding of normalcy.

The PR regime failed to ensure free movement of people on the National Highways from March 8, but could a popular Government under any Chief Minister have done better?

Remember the National Highways have been off limits to the Meiteis since the evening of May 3, 2023.

All questions at the moment and no one knows whether any answer would be forthcoming or not.