Drafting Committee : Lop sided :: Not a lone Congress issue
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: July 24 2015 -

If the withdrawal of the Manipur Regulation of Visitors, Tenants and Migrant Workers Bill, the formation of the Drafting Committee to draft a new legislation to protect the indigenous people of the State and the announcement that a new Bill will be in place within one month time are any indications, then the State Government seems serious about putting a check on the inflow of non-local people into the soil of Manipur.

Inner Line Permit System is definitely the catchword at the moment, but the more important thing is to acknowledge that it is not the Act per se which is more important but the spirit to stop the influx that is more important.

It is here where the role of the public becomes important. Alongwith a Bill to check the increasing incursion of non-local people, what is equally needed is a sincere study to understand why Manipur has been attracting non-local people in such a huge number for decades.

The Sangai Express has written enough times about this need and perhaps it is now important to shift focus to the Drafting Committee which has been announced by the Government.

This is where it needs to be studied whether the State Government gave any serious thought over the composition of the Committee.

This is not about questioning the integrity and commitment of the members of the Committee but it certainly would have made much more sense if the Government had broken free from its Congress centric approach.

Chairman of the Drafting Committee, Th Debendra is a Congress MLA and a Minister in the present Government. The other three MLAs-Dr Ng Bijoy, N Biren and RK Anand-are all Congressmen.

The only neutral ‘member’ is M Yaiskul, the Special Secretary of Home, in the Government of Manipur and he is in the Committee as the Convenor.

The Government may have its best intention but this falls flat in the face of the fact that it absolutely makes no sense to draw all the members from the Congress.

Why aren’t any Opposition MLAs named in the Drafting Committee ?

Why did the Government fail to look beyond ?

This is not an internal issue of the Congress party that it necessitated the inclusion of only Congress MLAs.

This is more like a Congress Committee, to quote former Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam.

As the former Chief Minister questioned, ‘Why hasn’t the Government bothered to throw its net wider and include names from the Bar Council and include law practitioners who are familiar with the Constitution of India ?’

There is certainly food for thought here and why has the Government conveniently overlooked names like MLA Dr I Ibohalbi and MLA L Ibomcha, who are known to come up with fresh ideas ?

More over, it should be remembered that before the Trinamool Congress split here, Dr I Ibohalbi was unofficially recognised as the leader of the Opposition.

Moreover MLA L Ibomcha is a former Law Secretary in the Government of India.

The Government would do well to remember that the present issue does not concern only the Congress party and it makes no sense at all to name only Congressmen in the Drafting Committee.

The Government too has overlooked the importance of inducting members of the JCILPS in the Drafting Committee and there can be no excuses for this.

In short the composition of the Drafting Committee is not balanced and is lop sided.