Politics of diatribe (December 1)

If political parties start trading charges can election preparations be far behind. The Center has extended the term of the President's Rule for another period of six months, but this has not dampened the spirit of our political parties. As chances of holding elections to the Manipur Assembly in the middle of the next year if not earlier are high hurling muds to dirty one another in the eyes of the electorate has begun in the right earnest. 

The mud-slinging match is the unmistakable sign that our political parties are gearing up for the Assembly elections. Such practices are all terribly old hat as far as elections are concerned in Manipur. The last Assembly elections witnessed the dirtiest ever electioneering with political parties engaging in even personal tirades against their opponents. And there are indications that this time it will get dirtier.

It is unfortunate that the parties have chosen diatribes against each other instead of focusing attention on finding solutions to the pressing issues confronting the
State. Instead of presenting policies and program that can tackle the myriad problems of the State the parties seem to be taking the easy way - show your rival as a villain in the eyes of the electorates.

What has been forgotten by our political parties is that criticism is easy, but translating the promises into action is the hardest task. We have several examples of this. When Sharmila began her hunger strike demanding lifting of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act those in the Opposition made repeated promises that the " draconian law " would be lifted if they came to power. But when they actually seized power Sharmila and the " draconian law " was forgotten
conveniently. This is only one example of promises made and broken by our political parties. With parties preparing themselves for the next elections their attention would now be refocused on the issue of Sharmila. 

Today problems are piling up one after another in the Sate. We have a long list of important issues, which need immediate attention of the Government or those politicians. Who would be part of the next Government? The law and order situation is bad, academic scene is not encouraging and infrastructure development is another area, which has been neglected for long. But an issue, which calls for a serious attention is the falling economy of the Sate. 

The employees are on cease work strike as the Government has not been able to pay their salaries. The cease work strike has even disrupted classes. Revenues collection has also come to a screeching halt as a result of the cease work strike. Faultfinding is easy. Each party has blamed one or the other for the financial mess. But few are coming up with remedies.

The electorate are not fool and they need no reminder of who have done what. They now want a party or leader that can make bold promises and also keep them. They don't need dirty talks. It will be wise if our politicians keep in mind that the masses are fed up with the so-called political leaders.

(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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