Has any lesson been learnt ? Poser before 2027 polls
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The question is whether Manipur has learnt any lesson since May 3, 2023 or not. Whether the people and the place as a whole have been able to work out and keep its priorities in the right order. And it stands that to come anywhere near answering the posers raised here, one will need to go back to May 3, 2023 and the days that have followed. In the last more than two years since Manipur went up in flames, it became more and more difficult to understand who or what forces the people needed and need to stand up against. In the first place, it should be admitted that Manipur was totally caught on the wrong foot, with the false narratives marking any story that had to do with the violence here and it should say something significant that far from putting in efforts to neutralise the wrong inputs that were fed to the rest of the world, Manipur continued to be satisfied living in its own echo chamber and telling the same story again and again to the same audience, instead of trying to reach out to the world at large with the right narratives. Threats, intimidations, bull dozing one’s way to get a point across, a point that anyway had no takers once one crosses Sekmai to the north, Moirang to west and Pallel to the south, and it is in this cocoon some in Manipur continue to live, thrive and in due course of time emerge as heroes and heroines. A trend of worshipping false heroes and heroines, a trend which reflects the acute shortage of real life personalities who can don the role of heroes and heroines. This is a fact which no one has acknowledged so far, with many coming under the impression that voices of dissent and differences of opinion can be silenced through brute force and muscle power. The question however is whether Manipur has learnt anything from this or not. In the more than two years of crisis, certain important points should have registered in the minds of the people, such as why Manipur does not have any friends who could have spoken out on her behalf, other than some right wing writers and thinkers. These are questions which should sensitise the line of thinking of the people, but far from it, what one sees is the practise of taking pot shots at everyone. A clear case of Manipur not being able to identify the allies and the foes, a case of the people being blinded by a false sense of ‘having a long and chequered history ?’ Either way such an approach has not and will not work. It is also not uncommon to see so many speaking out against the political leaders of the day while refusing to go further and raise certain questions within oneself, such as, why not set down the agenda ahead of the election instead of just listening to what candidates intend to do if they are elected ? Why not say ‘we want our elected representatives to do this for us,’ and then ask them to spell out how they intend to do it.
And this is precisely where the 2027 Assembly election becomes crucial. What is it that the people want from their representatives ? Isn’t it time for the people to spell out what they want their representatives to do or is it going to be a question of letting the elected representative decide what is good for the people ? Time for the voters and the people to acknowledge the fact that the election is perhaps more important for them than those elected, for they would be handing over the decision of who should rule over the place for the next five years. Maturity of thought and action, this is what the situation in Manipur demands and nowhere has this been as important as now. The political parties too must have come around to the fact that election is just a little less than two years away and two years will come in a flash. This is now the time for the people to start lining up what they expect their representatives to do for the people and the place for the next five years and of course do it with far sightedness with an eye on the next 20/30 years. Which party or candidate holds out the best prospect is for the people to decide, but here it is important for the people to distinguish between the glib talkers and those who have the potential to do what they say they would. This is the time for the people to start thinking about where they want Manipur and her people to be in the next 20/30 years.
And this is precisely where the 2027 Assembly election becomes crucial. What is it that the people want from their representatives ? Isn’t it time for the people to spell out what they want their representatives to do or is it going to be a question of letting the elected representative decide what is good for the people ? Time for the voters and the people to acknowledge the fact that the election is perhaps more important for them than those elected, for they would be handing over the decision of who should rule over the place for the next five years. Maturity of thought and action, this is what the situation in Manipur demands and nowhere has this been as important as now. The political parties too must have come around to the fact that election is just a little less than two years away and two years will come in a flash. This is now the time for the people to start lining up what they expect their representatives to do for the people and the place for the next five years and of course do it with far sightedness with an eye on the next 20/30 years. Which party or candidate holds out the best prospect is for the people to decide, but here it is important for the people to distinguish between the glib talkers and those who have the potential to do what they say they would. This is the time for the people to start thinking about where they want Manipur and her people to be in the next 20/30 years.