Giving a lie to CM's statement : Hangers on mentality
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 14, 2012 -

Justice for Loitam Richard : Protest Rally at Imphal on 07 May 2012 :: Pix - Bunti Phurailatpam

This may well beat the experience of a bucket of cold water after a hot shower. On May 20, more than a month after Richard Loitam was found dead in his hostel room at Bangalore on April 18, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh had informed reporters on the sidelines of a public function that the State Government was in touch with the Government of Karnataka in connection with the case.

The Chief Minister had topped this off by announcing that the Centre too has been urged to have the case handed over to the CBI.

Fast forward by three weeks or so and now six student organisations have come forward to claim that the State Government or rather the Chief Minister has never contacted the Karnataka Government over the case.

If at all this claim comes anywhere the truth then the State Government or the Chief Minister should be held culpable of being part of the larger conspiracy to muddy the truth behind the controversial death of Loitam Richard, taking the conspiracy theory doing the round into consideration.

The death of Loitam Richard has already kicked up a storm not only in Karnataka and Manipur but also in other parts of the country and nowhere is this more evidenced than the trouble taken by the Prime Minister and the Union Home Minister to say that there is no racism in India.

This was followed by the strict instructions issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs to all the States to invoke the Atrocity Against ST/SC Act if anyone uses the term chinky against the people from the North East States.

Understandably the move, belated one at that, of Delhi did not find many takers amongst the people of the North East region as this was seen as nothing but a damage control exercise, an effort to address an issue without admitting that there is such an issue that needs to be tackled.

Not long after the death of Richard had kicked up a storm and left the people of Manipur in particular and the North East in general an angry and disappointed lot, came the news of the death of Dana Sangma from Meghalaya.

While Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma was quick to respond to the death of the young woman, it took more than a month for the Chief Minister of Manipur to say something publicly about the case of Richard Loitam.

And as things stand today, six student organisations have come forward and painted the statement of the Chief Minister as false.

The stand of the student bodies is based on what they were reportedly told by the Karnataka Chief Minister during a meeting at Bangalore recently and while the unalloyed truth may lie somewhere in between it says something significant about the Congress Government in Manipur.

Politicians have never been known as angels, tweaking and distorting the truth and the reality to suit their immediate interest, but a line needs to be drawn when it comes to matter that involves the interest of all the people.

Into his third term as the Chief Minister of Manipur, O Ibobi has more than once demonstrated that the State can and will act tough bordering on the harsh and in many ways it is eye opening to see how the same person or the Government he heads can be turned into a weak, whimpering, confused and submissive entity when it comes to taking up cudgels and confronting others on behalf of the people.

The hangers on mentality stands out prominently.