Ahead of the next Assembly polls Time for people to set agenda

Manipur is already in 2026, a new year, a new beginning and perhaps the understanding of a new beginning may best be understood by how people decide who their representatives would be for the next five years during the 2027 Assembly elections.  A little over a year left before the people decide who gets to represent them and now is the time for the people to start thinking what type of representatives they want. The Big Two, that is the BJP and the Congress may have started how they should go about wooing the people by picking up issues which would appeal to all but it is important for the people to come to the realisation that what is at stake is their future for the next five years. This is a given and everyone should acknowledge that voting day is much more than just deciding the fate of the candidates in the fray, but deciding their future. A point which should not blow over the heads of anyone who can vote. As noted, perhaps this is now the time for the people to start pooling their thoughts and deciding where they want to see Manipur by say, 2030. Election manifestos of the different political parties are indeed important and the people should study the finer points in the manifesto of each political party, but what is needed more for Manipur is now for the people to lay down what they want from their representatives. Just lapping up the poll promises of the different political parties and their candidates will not do. Time to say what the people want and not stand by and listen to what the political parties have to say. Good orators, some of the candidates may be and listening to them may be enlightening, but this is now the time for the people to say, ‘For once sit still and listen to what we want.’ This should be the way to go about it. Time also for the people to study if a movement may be mounted to see if the Election Commission of India can be persuaded to insert a clause which says, ‘If the votes polled in NOTA crosses a certain number or percentage of the votes polled, then the said election in a particular AC may be put on hold.’ This would make the NOTA button all that more meaningful and not just a waste of one’s vote. It would also help if measures can be taken up to persuade the authority to insert a ‘Recall’ clause for each Assembly Constituency, wherein a representative may be recalled if the people think he or she has failed to live up to the expectations of the people. The proposals here will definitely fall in the realm of ‘wishful thinking’ but the very fact that this idea is being floated here, should be an indication of the loss of trust in the people’s representatives, representatives who come begging for votes during election time and once elected, treat the people who elected them with disdain. However telling the candidates what is wanted from them should not fall in the realm of ‘wishful thinking,’ for this can be done and should be done.
Time to show that the people no longer want to hear what the BJP or the Congress or any of the other political parties would do for the place, if and once elected, but to spell out what they want the representatives to do, once elected. To come anywhere near to this, it is important for the people to start asking, what is it that Manipur needs and wants ? Development, a situation which promotes diligence and hard work is what the people want. And developments can be seen and interpreted through many indices. For one what Manipur needs at the moment is good educational institutions. Assam already has an IIT, an IIM, a Tata Institute of Social Sciences and other institutes of National repute. Meghalaya too has now has an IIM and a NEHU that caters to the needs of students, particularly students from the North East region. Manipur has none of these institutes of National repute. When Shillong was on the verge of getting an IIM, The Sangai Express had made a strong appeal to the then Congress Government at Imphal to throw in their hat into the ring and see if such an institute of repute can be brought here. Not clear if any effort towards this was made, but Shillong received the IIM. These are issues which Manipur can and should place before the different political parties and their candidates when the State goes to polls in 2027. Time for the people to start chipping in with their thoughts and place them before the different political parties, particularly the Big Two, on what Manipur wants and needs. This would make the Assembly elections all that more meaningful to the people.