| Old Story Retold
The elections to the 8th Manipur Legislative Assembly is just around the corner but there are no promises of a new horizon to the beleaguered life that has been the state's fate for the past so many years. The pitch of the political rhetoric are the same, the campaign styles have not undergone any visible change either inspite all that the state has been through, the lavish feasts and merry-making that have become part of the election scenario in the state are very much still around, even though the fear of retribution may have driven part of it underground.
At the core, things remain very much the same. Again it does seem it is time to go through the rigmarole of the old story told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. It is surprising how even the tragic events of June 18 and after, still fail to purge, not to talk of purify, politics and political commitment in the state.
On the other hand, every sundry other political party has been trying to capitalize on the traumas the people went through during those heady days, and the sacrifices of young lives that resulted. Kekrupat has today become the alibi for those aspiring for the seats of power, to demonstrate their love for Manipur and the patriotic streaks in their bloodstream. Those who ran away from the state when the inferno raged on, as well as those who did not have to, but would definitely have, had they been in the shoes of those who did, are singing the same patriotic tunes.
How they all must be wishing they could become true-blooded patriots by menacingly making patriotic pledges with clenched fists, loud enough and long enough. Whoever said the statement, patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels, amounts to sacrilege? Its truth is being demonstrated right before our very eyes again. We honestly wish this pre-election spurt of patriotic feelings and commitments, were all not so very theatrically noisy.
It really is difficult to make such an important choice that democracy demand of the people in such a circumstance. Whoever was the wise man that said democracy would have been the worst form of government if other systems were even marginally better than they are, has said all that is needed to be said on the issue. For indeed, elections have been reduced to such an indifferent affair in the years that have gone by.
Nobody anymore goes into the polling booth with the belief that she (by she we also mean he) has her future in her hand. She only knows that the stake that she puts into the ballot box will be bartered away and re-bartered no sooner than the box is opened. So why not join the bartering game and make the most out of the barter, has become the overriding attitude. In the process the decaying process gets further entrenched and democracy reduced to a crass barter system that cannot even boast of any degree of sophistication. That is why we suppose today nobody who does not have enough to barter, cannot hope to be a successful politician.
Politics too is left with a reputation that it cannot easily be rescued from. As a matter of fact, political aspiration in today's Manipur, has come to be caricatured to evoke images of greed, corruption and clownish fickle-mindedness, when it should really have meant heroism and ordained leadership with the onerous mission of carrying forward the will and the common good of the people.
(Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press) |
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