Desperate measures; a contradiction to the ‘First among the equals’
- Imphal Times Editorial :: October 06 2020 -

In democracy politics decide the fate of a nation. It is the political will and public policies that will make the society march ahead.

In a democratic form of government politics without discipline invariably led the society into chaos.

When we talk about discipline it is about respecting and recognizing the spirit of the leader that is holding the steering of the government and making decisions on the direction to be taken.

Having said so, it is a collective decision and debates , deliberations and arguments before starting the journey is a must and it is not the sole person that will decide on where, which way the government should march ahead.

For that we need a perfect and powerful leader. And the leader should be the one whom each and every one of them follows notwithstanding the fact that they have every right to give a constructive idea or even raise objections on where the government should march on.

The tragic part in the formation of the government of Manipur in the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly was that no political party got absolute majority.

But destiny holds the fate of the state and finally Nongthombam Biren Singh- a one time journalist turned politician was chosen as the chief Minister.

The unfortunate part was that even though he became the chief minister of the state he was not that powerful enough to exercise his power as the chief minister as his ministry did not have much respect for him.

Chief Minister had every power to subdue any form of opposition or disrespect to him. But for reasons best known to himself he did not exercise his power to make himself a powerful Chief minister.

People had seen many developmental works taken up under him. To mention some, the CMHT, the Go to hill Mission, the go to village mission, a weekly meeting with all the public of the state are few.

But due to lack of coordination from the cabinet ministers under him scams about supply of substandard PPE and masks during covid time have been traced. Some Ministers even stayed away from cabinet meetings summon by the Chief Minister. These are all facts and are reported in the media.

Due to the high handedness of some of the ministers in the cabinet, the Biren Singh Government was made a mockery and today he challenged such behavior and a major reshuffle had taken place to make sure that Manipur remain safe during the COVID invasion.

What is ironic was the kind of politics played by those who have been removed from the ministership. Who were the persons organizing a protest against the removal of L Jayentakumar from the post of Health Minister at Keishamthong yesterday.

Some civil society bodies called a bandh all of a sudden on the issue of the National Sports University at Kangpokpi district after a women MLA called Nemcha Kipgen was removed from the Ministership.

There are many questions to be asked and there are many that people across the state need to ponder on the dirty politics played by unqualified elected members.

It is time the public should have more participation in the politics of the state and raise their voices and concerns on issues affecting them.

We have been taken for a ride by these unqualified public leaders who came up to power from dubious backgrounds for too long.

The buck stops here and the public who are the real source of power and influence of these elected leaders need to stand firm and make judicious choice from now onwards.

Nothing less will take us towards progress and inclusive development we have always been shouting hoarse about.