Posers voters should raise now : Disrespecting the people
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 13, 2024 -

Questions, yes this is the time to raise questions and see if any of the political party or to be more specific if any of the Big 2 can respond to the questions being raised.

This is the time for all right thinking persons to raise questions and not simply ingest what the candidates and the different political parties peddle to the people.

And obviously the questions may revolve around the ongoing clash.

Everyone knows how the clash started and one just have to go back to May 3, 2023 and a little earlier to understand how the clash erupted in all its ugliness on the mentioned date.

It then follows that the question that should be raised is, why has the clash continued for nearly a year or 365 days ?

Why is the Prime Minister silent even in the face of the fact that over 200 people on either side have been killed, over 60,000 people are still surviving in relief centres, while a few have had to migrate outside the State to live.

What are the steps that the Government at Imphal has taken up to enable the displaced people to return to the place they once called home ?

And what is the roadmap that the different political parties have drawn up or are planning to draw up to enable the displaced folks to return to home ?

These are but some of the questions people should place before the different political parties and their candidates to see which among them deserve the vote of the people.

The answer to what is the way forward is what the people would like to listen and no one is interested in the exercise of punching below the belt while going on the offensive against anyone and it should not cut ice with the voters.

This is what every candidate and their supporters and the political party they represent at the hustings should take note of.

Respect the sentiments of the people while going on the offensive against anyone, is the one line instruction that should be given to anyone who speaks out in favour of a particular candidate or who criticises any candidate while speaking in favour of the candidate they back.

One cannot expect any out of the box thinking to deal with the present crisis if the gutter level mentality that one sees coming from some supporters or party representatives is anything to go by.

Ever since the names of the candidates were finalised and electioneering started, one had expected to see some sort of high level debates, a sharing of ideas and a roadmap to take the people and Manipur to normalcy, but it is unfortunate to see some extremely distasteful and downright ugly style of running down the ‘others’ in the electioneering exercise that is now going on in full steam.

What marks out the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the earlier ones witnessed in Manipur, is perhaps the level of interests the election has kicked up.

At other times, for the Lok Sabha elections here, the common point was one of disinterested people, sans any debates on the merits and demerits of the candidates in the fray or where the different political parties stood on issues besieging the State.

This time, however it is different.

A positive departure it is from the earlier practice and in a way the level of interests the coming election has kicked up is a sort of a reflection of a people coming to terms with the importance of choosing one’s representative to be sent to the Lower House of Parliament.

The common topic for discussions and even debates now is who among the candidates seem better placed to tell the story of Manipur on the floor of Lok Sabha and beyond.

Who is in a better position to highlight the story of Manipur beyond Parliament.

These are talks doing the round amongst the interested folks and such a change in approach or mindset to the Lok Sabha elections is definitely a positive development.

A point which the candidates concerned, the respective political party they represent as well as their supporters should acknowledge and ensure the healthy development one sees amongst the voters is not marred or disfigured by their uncouth posturing against the others.

It is also time for the voters to acknowledge that the nonsensical barbs and words being used to run down the opponent/s is also a demonstration of the utter disrespect they have towards the very set of people from whom they are seeking support.

Nothing can be more distasteful and uglier than this and the best lesson to teach these elements should lie on the button of the Electronic Voting Machine they choose to press on voting day. April 19 is just a few days away.