Benchmarks for Congmen : Giving performance the miss
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 26 2011 -

Chief Minister O Ibobi sounded tough, really tough. It is not very often that we get to see the original man from Khangabok Assembly Constituency striking such a tough pose publicly as he did while inaugurating the Serou bridge over Chakpi river on October 24 and the interesting part was the stress on the strength of the wannabe Congress candidates for the election to the 10th Assembly election.

The declaration of the Chief Minister that no one, including sitting Congress MLAs, can take it for granted that they would get the party's ticket implies that the boot hangs heavy over the head of some Congresswallahs. It would be hazardous to predict who would be these Congresswallahs, but what is clear is that the Chief Minister has already started rolling up his sleeves to deliver the knock out punch on some of the sitting Congress MLAs.

Not a bad thing at all, for the simple fact that the Congress is not the family heirloom of anyone, least of all those who came into the fold of the party by default.

Winnability is the criterion that the Chief Minister stressed on and the factors on which the winnability quotient rests could be anything, but performance. It is the numbers that matter, not performance or else the Chief Minister may not have felt that comfortable on coming out with such an announcement in the first place.

We say this with a reason. Even as the Chief Minister went about setting benchmarks for wannabe Congress candidates, the economic blockade called by the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee had already crossed the 80th day mark and had in fact touched the 86th day.

What was more, the Sadar Hills Districthood Demand Committee had decided not to attend the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister at 3 pm on the same day that Mr Ibobi talked about the criteria for anyone who may be given the Congress ticket.

To top this off, the SHDDC announced for good measure that the economic blockade would be intensified. A man who is lording over the more than 85 days of economic blockade obviously cannot be talking about performance when announcing the benchmark for all wannabe Congress candidates.

That an economic blockade, which is nothing less than cutting off the life lines of a people has been allowed to carry on for more than 85 days is enough statement on where performance and governance figure on the list of the SPF Government.

It thus follows that these two could not have figured in the consciousness of the Chief Minister when he laid down the benchmark for all wannabe Congress candidates.

It was not too long back that the Chief Minister presented a hunky dory picture of the people and Manipur when grilled by the media at New Delhi, even daring them to visit the State and see things for themselves. Either the Chief Minister must have been blind or fed hogwash by his trusted lieutenants.

Or it could have been a cocktail of arrogance and impunity coming to the fore in all its full bloom.

Or was Mr Ibobi trying to fool the rest of the country ? A kilogramme of green chillies now cost anywhere between Rs 100 to Rs 120.

To get five litres of rationed petrol one has to be in the queue for at least three/four hours.

Or maybe, it is time to remind these leaders that long queues outside petrol pumps are not like the queues outside a cinema hall, which is a testimony of a film hitting the jackpot at the box office !

The price of fish and vegetables has touched sky high and yet the Government continues not only to act but also to say that everything is fine. It was this arrogance that was on full display when the Chief Minister talked about the criteria needed to be awarded with a Congress ticket in the coming election.

It provided a sort of a comical moment to see the grinning faces of the Chief Minister and his men while inaugurating the Serou bridge and what should have been a work dedicated to the people, who for long have remained at the mercy of the Chakpi river, was turned into a Congress jamboree.

With election coming near, this may be taken with a pinch of salt, but the exercise in self patting, the act of blowing one's own trumpet while remaining indifferent to the over 85 days economic blockade is something which no one can associate with a popularly elected Government.

The farce has been going on for too long and the mandate by the people in the last election was to govern not to steamroll aside the aspirations of the people by throwing their weight around.

This is the bottomline.