Floundering people
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: May 05 2015 -

Manipur had been degenerated to a world class joke and it deplorable that the established government is not thinking in terms of stemming the tide even at this late hour.

Various organisations with their slew of demands are queueing up for general strikes, blockades and other forms of gridlocks which are hardly seen even in the most troubled state in India.

The fallout of the round the clock gridlock is heaped on the people who have nobody to turn to.

It is really deplorabe and despicable that instead of making its presence felt the Congress government is capitulating to the organisations which are imposing various forms of agitations.

What is more surprising is that the Opposition MLAs and their decimated parties are mute spectators and have not been speaking a word lest they incur the wrath of the powerful chief minister.

There are many good reasons why the otherwise garrulous MLAs are maintaining a stilted silence.

First the crafty chief minister is keeping the political carrot dangling which means that some disgruntled MLAs have a glimmer of hope of becoming ministers.

Secondly the opposition MLAs stand to lose everything by alienating the chief minister. All of them are scrambling to be in the good books of Okram Ibobi.

To cap it all, the organisations which are quarterbacking the disruptions will not listen to the government and the elected members even if they speak out.

So they elected to maintain a sepulchral silence and remain out of touch.

What belatedly dawns on them is that the people of Manipur are not fools and corrupt whose votes could be purchased with crisp currency on the eve of the polling. Many of them may have to face the death sentence on the day of reckoning.

But can Narendra Modi and the loud mouthed BJP in Manipur remain as mere spectators to the trials and tribulations of the people?

It cannot be merely a question of non-interference in a state subject when the people are thus fleeced round the year.

One egg costs Rs 10, chicken Rs 200 a kg, petrol is sold at Rs 130 a litre while the police look the other way, coarse rice sold at Rs 32 a kg, kerosene is beyond the reach of the common people and the list is endless.

Many human vultures had become rich overnight. Modi ought to understand that the sense of alienation is burgeoning in Manipur.