Staring at political and financial crisis Delhi should act fast

    17-Jun-2019
Political crisis and financial crisis, as MPCC president and member of CWC Gaikhangam put it. The two are interlinked with the financial crisis giving the much needed push to the political crisis, especially after Chief Minister N Biren stripped the Finance, Works and Power portfolios from NPP MLA and Deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar and BJP Minister Th Biswajit as soon as the RBI stalled all Government transactions following the overdraft of over Rs 274 crore. Tough to say if the voice of dissent would have died a natural death if the said two Ministers were not divested of their portfolios, but much before this, the voice of dissent had already raising its ugly head. Remember the Cabinet meeting at Ukhrul district headquarters on June 5 when fifty percent of the Cabinet Ministers decided to stay away. This was probably the first public demonstration of the simmering differences within the BJP led Government  and the interesting part is, it is not with its coalition partners the NPF and NPP, but within the saffron party itself. That this should come about when the BJP had just won a landslide victory at the recently held Lok Sabha elections is what makes the open revolt all that more intriguing and interesting at the same time. All the more reason why the Central leadership of the BJP need to act fast and see how the matter may be resolved, for ultimately it will not do the saffron party any good if the stand off is allowed to continue. It is also significant to note that most of the news or information emanating from New Delhi, where the key players of the present stand off are presently have to do with the political stand off and not the overdraft and ban imposed by the RBI.
This is the delicate situation that Manipur finds itself in today. Ideally the State Government should be engaging with financial experts and those who know the nitty gritty of how and from where to avail funds, so that the overdraft can be written off. This would have needed the Council of Ministers to interact regularly and get in touch with the officials concerned. However with the political crisis hanging above, the attention of the people who matter has been drawn towards the question of whether there will be a change of guard or not. To the common people, the people on the road who eke out a living selling goods on the roadsides and at the Keithels, the shopkeepers, the petty Government employees and daily wage earners, the main concern would be from where their next round of income is going to come from. This is particularly true as the economy of Manipur is largely salary driven and with corporate houses yet to open their doors here, the salary  here means salaries of Government employees. Unfortunate it is but the people who matter do not seem to be giving much attention to this. To the common people, it is the financial crisis which will pinch their pocket and even hit their stomach and not who next heads the Government. This point should not blow over the heads of the Central BJP leaders and herein lies the importance of settling the political crisis as soon as possible.