Congress in its avatar as an Oppn : Keeping the Govt on its toes
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: April 04 2018 -

Statistics can lie and nothing is more apparent than this in the fact that though the Congress emerged the single largest party after the Assembly election last year with 28 MLAs under its belt, it was the BJP with 21 MLAs which managed to form the Government, courtesy its ability to tie up with other political parties.

Some rogue Congress MLAs too helped its cause by switching sides and while no one seems to know what has happened to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, it is significant to note that the BJP led Government managed to infuse a fresh breath of life in the State Government and mend fences with the hill based organisations.

This is perhaps most visible in the manner in which hill based organisations, particularly the United Naga Council has given a quiet burial to its ‘communal Government of Manipur’ slogan and the Churachandpur JAC, which was convinced to perform the last rites of the eight people killed in the Churachandpur uproar of 2105, after the State Assembly passed three Bills on August 31 of the same year.

On the other hand it is also refreshing to see the Congress playing the role of an effective Opposition and keeping the BJP led Government on its toes.

This is what democracy demands, that is a strong Opposition to keep the Government on its toes.

The Congress must have learnt a lesson or two from the time it was in office, when the Opposition was literally reduced to the status of a paper tiger with no growl and no teeth.

Remember how the Congress managed to bull doze its way after winning 42 seats in the 2012 Assembly election and then strengthened its position by merging six other MLAs who were then with the MSCP with the Congress.

As things stand today, the Congress seems to be making all the right noises at the right time.

Remember how it rose to the occasion when there was a huge uproar over the remarks of the Chief Minister at Gujarat some days back.

It has also demonstrated that it was not a one time show as its leaders have now gone hammer and tongs against the BJP led Government, with the latest being the charge that a huge sum of money has been withdrawn from the Public Works Department.

It is anybody’s guess how things will unfold, but it sure must be keeping the BJP led Government on its toes and this is what a healthy democracy should be about.

More than an indication that the efficacy of the Government depends much on the strength of the Opposition and it is a pity that this belief was clobbered for a six when the Congress was in power in the previous Assembly.

Now that the Congress has opened its guns on the BJP, it will be interesting to see how the party in power responds.

More interesting days may be witnessed when the issue of appointing Parliamentary Secretaries is taken up at the right forum.

Here too the Congress has been central to all the moves taken up in connection with the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries and it will be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming days.