Wild speculations and shooting in the dark : Failing to keep the people informed
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: March 21 2016 -

Chief Minister O Ibobi and Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam are in Delhi, again. The reason is the same.

Being summoned by AICC president Sonia Gandhi following the case laid by some ‘dissident’ Congress MLAs.

For the record this is the second time in the past few days that the two leaders have been summoned to Delhi and while the rumour mill is grinding, no one exactly seems to know what exactly the Congress high command told the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister during the first visit or if they met at all.

The price of silence or the refusal to divulge what exactly is going on is best exemplified by the different versions carried by the State newspapers in the last couple of days.

If one reads two or more newspapers, then one would be left confused as no two reports were similar.

The same thing may repeat again this time as there is no indication that anyone would clearly state the present situation.

The interesting question is whether the Congress can afford to keep the people uninformed especially since the Assembly election is scheduled to be held in the early part of next year (2017).

The Sangai Express has so far steered clear of shooting in the dark, in the face of any tangible reports coming from the people concerned and the all round confusion and wild speculations doing the round can best be attributed to the refusal of the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister to come out with a clear cut statement on what is exactly happening.

This is not something which can be swept aside as the internal affairs of the Congress. A point which should register in the minds of the people at the helm.

This is the third consecutive term that the Congress is in power with O Ibobi on the verge of completing 15 uninterrupted years in the chair of the Chief Minister.

This period of time should at least have been enough to teach the Congress a lesson that what happens to the party can no longer be swept aside as the internal affairs of the party.

Whatever happens to the party here means it affects the Government and it is only accepted that the public are eager to know what exactly is happening.

Silence here should not be taken as the better part of valour for whatever happens to the Congress here is directly going to affect the lives of the people.

This is the reason why the Congress cannot afford to remain silent when internal wranglings have reached such a stage that the AICC leaders feel it important to summon the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister who incidentally is also the president of the MPCC.

This is not the time to keep the public guessing for such a state can give rise to wild speculations and this cannot be healthy for the party by any stretch of the imagination.

Open up and keep the people informed.