Charges and counter charges : Verbal diarrhoea
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 19 2011 -

At Wangkhei Assembly Constituency it is Y Erabot and O Henry, at Heingang Assembly Constituency it is N Biren and N Kapu, at Wangjing Tentha Assembly Constituency it is M Hemanta and P Brojen, at Oinam Assembly Constituency it is I Ibohalbi and Kh Romeo and it is anybody's guess when the other Assembly Constituencies will follow suit.

The latter names mentioned are all wannabe MLAs and aspiring candidates in the said Assembly Constituencies and the formerly named ones are all sitting MLAs with two, Y Erabot and N Biren, being members of the Council of Ministers.

Apart from this, the line of thread running through them are the charges and counter charges that have been traded in the columns of the newspapers and at stake is the 10th Assembly for which election is likely to be held sometime in February next year.

No one seems to know who cast the first stone and no one seems to care to know, least of all the respective followers of the parties involved in the verbal duel.

The result is the stain of verbal diarrhoea that dots the pages of the newspapers published in Imphal the next day.

The senseless arguments and below the belt verbal blows are nothing but a reflection of the quality of politics that has come to define the electoral battle in Manipur and the potholed roads, the price tags of Government jobs which has become the State's worst kept secret, the unholy but convenient nexus of the politicians, contractors and white collared babus are the results of such a culture taking deep roots.

If Goonda Raj defined the culture of election in Bihar at one point of time and muscle power decided what type of Government it would have and mastering the art of caste equations has come to be the parameter of deciding who would take the victory lap at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, then taking to percentage calculation and grooming a Contractor-Politician-Bureaucrat Raj has come to decide who will head towards Heinou Makhong, or the Chief Minister's bungalow in the heart of Imphal.

The ante-effect of such a political culture is played out at the election arena in the form and substance of the verbal diatribe, charges and counter charges that have been unfolding on the pages of the newspapers as witnessed so far in the said Assembly Constituencies.

The preliminaries do not bode well for the State as a whole.

What is disturbing is to see a whole tribe of hangers-on coming to the fore as each passing hour drags the State nearer to election day, though it is still more than 90 days to come, if it is held as scheduled.

Shame is a trait only to be understood with reference to the weaklings, is a maxim which has become a badge of honour among the political elites of the State and the result is the manner in which some of the Ministers have come up with preposterous statements without going red in the face while dwelling on the current blockades on the National Highways as well as the ridiculously long time it has taken to complete some of the projects.

When aspiring candidates come to understand that they can corner prime space on the pages of the newspapers with their cheap tirades and accusations then it also says something on the quality of the media.

So far the media in Manipur has been happy playing the role of the messenger, keeping the people informed of the charges and counter charges without so much of an attempt to investigate the cases themselves and see how much water the charges of any particular person holds.

The Sangai Express is not an exception and in so much as the playing the role of the messenger may be interpreted as fulfilling a primary duty of a newspaper, this does not mean that questions cannot and should not be raised on the merit of giving primacy to such nonsensical ramblings of some pretenders.

A reality check is perhaps what is called for. The bottomline should be clear to all.

As long as aspiring candidates and the people continue to live under the impression that levelling charges and counter charges is the di riguer of electoral politics, then the quality of Government that the people will get needs no guessing.

The time is perhaps right to give a thumbs down to such a culture and why should not the media take the lead in ignoring all the shenanigans which only go on to insult the intelligence of the public ?

Or is this a task too tall to follow ?