Bridging the party divide : Taking the Opposition on board
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 06, 2012 -

In asserting that Ministers have been asked not go by the divide of ruling and Opposition while executing development works, Chief Minister O Ibobi may have just opened the window to a larger issue.

As the first among equals among the Cabinet and as not only the leader of the House but also the leader of the people, it was but expected of the Chief Minister to toe such a line.

But why such a directive is necessary in the first place is a question that is quietly disturbing. Do Ministers look at an Assembly Constituency through the prism of the ruling and Opposition divide when any development works are going to be taken up or does this question not arise at all.

That the Chief Minister felt it necessary to issue such a directive to his Ministerial colleagues says something significant.

This is all that more important, when governance has come to mean taking the Opposition on board when anything of great import is to be executed or planned.

The need for all the people's representatives to pool in their thoughts, ideas and resources and work together for the betterment of the place and the people has never been felt as strongly as now.

Forty two Assembly Constituencies may have MLAs sitting on the Treasury bench, but the remaining 18 too are still very significant for they represent the interest of the people, who form part of Manipur.

Irrespective of party affiliation all the 60 MLAs are here to do a job in the interest of the people and the land and this is what is central to the idea of the Chief Minister when he asked the Ministers to dispense with their duties irrespective of which Assembly Constituency development works are being taken up.

There is the need for political leaders to shake free from the shackles which have tied them down to their own respective Assembly Constituencies. Political leaders becoming synonymous with their Assembly Constituency is a dated idea.

As the Chief Minister three times on the trot and as a man who has been pilloried with the Thoubal whip very often, perhaps no one knows this better than the Chief Minister himself.

In as much as instructing the Ministers to over come the divide spawned by political party affiliation is deemed necessary, perhaps it would serve a much bigger and useful purpose if the Chief Minister walks the extra mile to open the door and invite the Opposition in to chalk out plans on how to overcome the financial mess that the State finds itself in right now.

Well couched words and terms to hide the deep financial trouble besetting the State will work only for a limited time and it is only desirable for the Chief Minister to go on the overdrive and see how things can be worked out.

For this the contributions and ideas from all members of the Assembly would be helpful. This is where taking the Opposition into confidence gains significance and a new understanding.

The interest of the land and the people should ride over the divide drawn up by party affiliation.