Noting the rants and finger pointing Make it a debate, not rants

Just three words but in these three words, Keirao Assembly Constituency MLA Lourem-bam Rameshwar delivered a point which has for long been acutely felt by the more discerning people of the State. Quality leader needed, are the words used by the MLA while pointing out that Manipur lags on all fronts due to the absence of a competent leader. Coming as it does even as Manipur is under President’s Rule, the observation of the MLA is loaded with meaning, and this is something which would not have missed the eyes of the keen political observers of Manipur. The MLA’s observation also came against the growing sense of disenchantment with the political leadership of the day amongst the more discernible section of people. The important point however is, whether the observation of the MLA, the disenchantment of the people with the type of people sent to represent them on the floor of the Assembly, will be effective enough to bring about a qualitative change or not. This is where the view that people get the type of Government they deserve rings out loud and clear and if the past 29 months have not drilled some sense into the heads of the people, then nothing else will. This much is the reality and even as the Keirao AC MLA stressed on the need for a quality leader to take the State forward, the BJP and the Congress have been going at it against each other in full public view. After ex-Chief Minister N Biren took digs at the Congress, dubbing it as a political party which capitalised on the sufferings of the people with half baked promises to max the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress MLA and former Speaker Th Lokeshwar came out questioning what the then BJP led Government did for the people, other than ensuring that the National Highways have become off limits for the Meiteis. One can expect to see the verbal duel to continue for some more days, with Lok Sabha MP Dr Bimol Akoijam addressing the media even as this commentary is being penned down. Not surprising that the two principal political parties should go against each other, but the moot point is whether the broadsides launched by the former Chief Minister against the Congress and the scathing reply from the Congress would take Manipur anywhere near the understanding of normalcy, a normalcy as universally understood. The answer should be obvious to all, but it should not be lost on the people that in the efforts to go one up against the other, the primary issue of the land seems to have been pushed aside. And this is what is regrettable. It will also not be possible to say how the people would have been influenced by the war of words but it is more than certain that such verbal duel would not do anything good for Manipur. Sure debates are needed, but that debate should lead to mechanisms to work out ways to address the issue presently plaguing Manipur and should not get reduced to an exercise of trying to go one notch higher than the other. And the more important question is whether the rant and verbal duel that Manipur sees come anywhere near the understanding of a debate.
All noise and no substance and certainly Manipur does not need this. The question is, what steps have been taken up to take Manipur on the path of normalcy ? Why does the goalpost keep changing ? What is it that Manipur is fighting for ? Why was there nothing to suggest that there was a Government in place on May 3, 2023 and in the days that followed ? These are the questions doing the round amongst the more discernible folks of the land and this has nothing to do with party politics. And all these questions should bring one back to the call of the Keirao Assembly segment MLA wherein the call for a quality leader was stressed. In publicly calling out the need for a quality leader, the MLA delivered an important statement and this is again something which would not have missed the eyes of the keen readers. Manipur has to wake up, for the call for a quality leader comes close to the understanding of the line that the people should elect the best when election time comes. In stating this, the MLA himself also put himself to test and this is what is needed. Come 2027 and Manipur will go to polls and a concerned people, a people who want something meaningful for Manipur, will need to look beyond the five years after 2027 but look at all the candidates and see who has the vision to look 20 or 25 years down the line. Are the people up to it ?