The Kumbhakarna Is Awake !
"Let the Election come, we are with the people."

Seram Neken *

From "Voice of the Voiceless " - a book by Seram Neken

Now, the people of Manipur surely begin to feel the presence of political parties, as the Election visits again. The political parties of Manipur will become more and more vocal nowadays with the approach of the Lok Sabha elections due to be held next year. On various issues and at various occasions, most political parties remained silent and inactive for a long time, only to raise its voice during polls.

It is sure for now that the people of Manipur have begun to hear the voices of opposition parties on issues like border fencing, non-availability of food-grains, corruption, quality education, law and order, so on and so forth. The voice of opposition parties is obviously symptomatic of an election nearby.

Role of opposition parties is not limited only to ridiculing the programmes taken up by the government. It has lots of constructive activities. Political parties have to continuously educate the people on various issues, to mobilize public opinion, guide the government, and serve as vigilance on the commissions and omissions of the government.

It should not be just in and around election days, it should be active for all the time. However, the people of Manipur have not seen any true opposition political party in the state, whether it is the Congress or the BJP or any other. They raise their voices on various issues only on the eve of elections.

Democratic governance is a two-way process. 'Whatever the ruler says is right', 'whatever the ruler does is good' - are the outdated political notions of the past which are highly contradictory to the modern, liberal and contemporary democracy. A strong opposition, a free media, active pressure groups and an informed citizenry are pre-requisites of a healthy democracy. Are we having a good democracy in Manipur ?

No doubt, Manipur has a pressured media playing its given role against all odds imposed by the state and non-state actors from time to time. Secondly, Manipur has innumerable pressure groups – majority of them are fractured and also polarized within. They are also serving the society on their own wills.

Thirdly, an informed citizenry is a far cry in Manipur, may be due to lack of political consciousness among the people. And there has been no opposition party worth the name to promote political consciousness of its people. It is unfortunate for the people of the state that we have not had a strong opposition to voice our grievances, particularly during the last one decade or so.

Role of opposition in a democracy is great as it has to constantly monitor the government functioning, to guide in policy formulation and planning, to rectify the misdeeds of the ruling party, to provide constructive advice to the government and also to mobilize public opinion on various emergent situation. It is the duty of the opposition party to initiate debates, deliberations and discussions to maintain the decorum of parliamentary democracy. Opposition has also to feed the people's aspirations back to the government in time.

Again, the right platform for the political parties to expose their capability is the Assembly Hall. The right time for them to express themselves is during the Assembly Sessions. However, most members do not speak out, do not participate in discussions and do not vote with conscience. The presence of political parties particularly the opposition parties finds its reflection more in the election meetings, and not in the Assembly sessions. Such unfortunate scenario happens because of the absence of capable politicians, rather true parliamentarians.

Erstwhile good orators in Manipur Legislative Assembly such as Okram Joy, Dr. Nimaichand Luwang, N. Mangi, P. Parijat and Radhabinod Koijam are not in today's assembly sessions. Moreover, a few good debaters who are at present in the treasury benches can not speak out from their hearts for obvious reasons. Although they have lots of oratory excellence and insight into situations, their loyalty to the leadership probably shuts their mouths on various eventualities.

During the past one decade, even the opposition parties could not perform their due tasks in a democratic set-up. Except for a very few leaders such as Dr. Irengbam Ibohalbi of Oinam Assembly constituency and L. Ibomcha of Keishamthong Assembly constituency, all other opposition MLAs are not known to be good orators and well experienced to be strong opposition stalwarts.

The political parties – the ruling and the opposition - seem to be checking each other on many occasions. They try to portray themselves to be sincere and committed to the cause of their people. During elections we find opposition parties loudly criticizing the ruling parties and their policies. However, on important matters such as exemption from RTI Act, they stand unanimous.

No political party has ever raised its voice to bring them into the ambit of RTI Act. It is obvious that those in politics do not want themselves to be transparent in the eye of their very public. They have the tendency to hide something from the public view. On important matters, it is the public on one side, and the politicians on the other side.

VOICE OF THE WEEK

If transparency is the mantra of good governance, political parties need to be covered by the provisions of RTI Act. Why the political parties wish to be out of the public view ? In contrast to the unanimity of the national parties, it is time for any regional political party of Manipur and other north eastern states to speak out its willingness to be under the ambit of the RTI Act to maintain complete transparency. It will be exemplary in the whole of democratic India.