A toast to Sanaleibak ! Yehi Hai Manipur !
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 01, 2011 -

A student forced to leave without writing his examination because the question paper had not been despatched to his college !

The growing apprehension that some educational institutions have literally turned the Class X Board exams into some sort of a market, where the best and the brightest are lured with dollops of cash, besides the normally acceptable freebies that come in the form of free tuition, free admission, free transportation or anything that can be given free.

Financial gain is the mantra which drives this new marketing gimmick (some may call it strategy) for netting the brightest students means some sort of a guarantee of excellent showing in the Class XII examination and once a school has made a name for itself, then it is natural that hundreds of students will line up for admission there, which literally translates into an opportunity to pile up the cash and go laughing all the way to the bank.

A Government taking part in the first round of a crucial talk only to turn around and say that they have not been informed of the crux of the matter to be discussed just when the second round of talk is to be held.

Students coming out on the streets to demand resumption of classes. A donation drive in which the amount to be contributed is decided before hand without the knowledge of the people on whom the donation card is going to be delivered.

Crooks and plain criminals being accorded the status of heroes and invited to important functions and seminars to speak on profound subjects. Measures taken up to ease traffic congestion and in the process turning the left hand rule on its head, with vehicles parked on the right hand side.

A multi-purpose dam built and opened amid much hype and publicity only to function without the power component, due to some technical snag. A road black topped after years of neglect and causing immense inconveniences to the public, only to be dug up by another Government agency to lay some water pipes and bringing the state of the road back to square one.

This is a brief description of the Manipur that we know and have been suffering all these years and it has the unmistakable stamp of corruption, indifference, plain inefficiency, the culture of taking the public for granted, a Babudom far removed from the reality at the ground level compounded by the presence of a political class to whom the only thing that matter is power and the perks and privileges that come along with being the people's representatives.

The system has been turned, twisted and deformed to such an extent that what is universally understood as unacceptable or undesirable has in fact become the trend setter, an inspiration for the youngsters to follow and emulate and the result is there for all to see in the prevalent value system that society has come to embrace.

And so it is that we increasingly see merit being sacrificed at the altar of influence and political backings, bank balance doing the talking not academic excellence at the time of any competitive examination to land a prime job in the Government, professional contractors suddenly developing the aura of political leaders on the basis of their financial clout etc.

Sane voices have been raised. Protests have been staged to make the Government and the Babudom accountable but all the measures to somehow put the downhill slide in reverse gear have failed, just like water running off the back of a duck ! The casualty of such a prevailing culture is Manipur and no one else.

So while we have lost touch of the number of patriots, who have announced that they are ready to go to any length to save the land from further decadence, Manipur continues to bleed with fresh injuries inflicted each and every waking and sleeping minute.

The hardest part to ingest and digest is the fact that the injuries are at most times inflicted by the self appointed patriots of the land. It is a free for all situation, where the only language that is spoken and understood is money and more money.

Democracy is perhaps the most abused term in Manipur today and it should not surprise anyone to see and hear certain sections going on a destruction spree, throwing the lives of the people into jeopardy and making a mockery of all that the modern, liberalised world stands for, in the name of exercising their democratic rights.

Newspapers can be threatened with a ban in certain areas in the name of upholding the principles of democracy. Schools can be shut down for days in the name of fighting for a cause dear to the students. Electricity bills can be hiked along with a corresponding increase in the hours of load shedding.

All these taken together go on to aptly define the Manipur that we know and the cruel irony is not lost on us if we recall that this place is also known as Sanaleibak.

Anarchy and democracy co-existing in a state of perfect harmony, the inept and totally incompetent people given the responsibility of drawing up the map of development and deciding the future of the people, the crooks and anti-social elements being elevated to positions of social leaders etc.

This is Manipur in its unadulterated and most pristine form. Mixture of the Opposites sounds novel and witty when we talk about Muhammad-bin-Tuqlag, but there is no wit or novelty, when it comes to Manipur, for obvious reasons.