Has the dignity of the August House diluted ?

Heigrujam Nabashyam *

It is said – and is accepted to be true that in the ancient Greek city states, which were independent states or countries – Athens for example – all the citizens had the right to take part in the deliberations and debates of their city state to make and change the laws of their country; the job that the legislatures of the modern states – the United States' Congress, the Indian Parliament or in our context the Manipur Assembly etc. are assigned to. The Greek city states are also called direct democracy. And after two millennia we may find it difficult to digest it.

In modern democracies this right and authority to make and change the laws of the land exclusively lies with the elected representatives of the people and it is the members of the legislatures who make and change the laws.

In democracies with parliamentary system like in UK, India, Canada, Japan, etc. the legislators also form the government. Whereas in the presidential democracy like in the United States of America where the division of power is one of the basic tenet to keep every power and authority in check and keep a balance of the different powers of the state so that no organ of the state would become too powerful to threaten the rights and liberty of the individual.

Indeed in democracy, whatever be the system, the rights and liberty of the individual take precedence over the powers of the state, which could have been anathema to the present leadership of Manipur.

The 60 honourable members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly – a member represents an average of 40 thousands people of the 24 lakhs population – are the sole authority to (1) make and change the laws and (2) to form the government by the leader of the party or parties who enjoys the support of the majority of the members. Fact is, the honourable legislators are both the lawmakers and the rulers of Manipur.

One need not be reminded that the Manipur Legislative Assembly is the highest body of the 60 most important honourable persons. It stands only next to the Parliament. And being a parliamentary system the government is responsible to this August House.

Any action or happenings in Manipur are answerable to this august body – from the stray cattle's to the street dogs, from the mosquito bite to the snake bite, from a road accident to the blatant violation of human rights by the security forces or from the appointment of a grade IV or a chowkidar to that of the chief secretary or the Director General of Police or from tarmac-ing a Leirak, a lane in the neighbourhood to the construction of the highway-roads to link Manipur to the network of the national highways of the country.

However discussions and debates in the House which is presently in full session, are expected to focus on more serious problems and issues such as the dismal law and order situation, the worsening communal condition, the issues of national highways apart from the construction theories which are elementary knowledge of the road engineers, the corruption charges or allegations in high places such as that of the Loktak Phumdi Project etc. as reflected in the newspapers or the alarming rate of unemployment and its serious social dimension which do not find even a cursory mention, if I am not wrong till date as if it is a natural state of being for the hapless unemployed six lakhs plus people, etc.

It is also expected that the Honourable Leader of the August House Shri O. Ibobi Singh would throw some lights on the issues and problems for the knowledge of the non-complaining general public and also find ways and means to take Manipur forward. But till today anything of substance have yet to come from the Honourable Leader, except for giving statistics and information. Or have one missed it ?

However a statement of the Hon'ble leader of the House, on the third day of the ongoing session, regarding the construction of the NH 53, that "the BRO (Border Road Organisation) cannot be controlled" as it is not under the state government, had set a bad precedent.

It showed the helplessness and the limitation of the Honourable Leader against a taskforce which could have been dealt with, without any difficulty by pulling up the controlling authority in an appropriate manner. Citing uncontrollability being the reason for dropping BRO sounds ridiculous ; instead the government should have found some other reasons.

It may not be without reason that the Prime Minister chided the Chief Minister – a highly placed source said – for unnecessarily causing problems for Manipur. As the leader of Manipur the CM should have understood every implications of his decision.

Had the Chief Minister acted with a little insight and foresight, the communal divide – let us admit the fact – would not have come to such a pass and by now T Muivah's Nagalim could have been subtly managed, or probably consigned to oblivion ; the simple reason is communal divide is the bedrock of the philosophy of Nagalim.

Now it has become a moot question if Manipur would be safe in the hands of the Hon'ble Leader, although we may be basking in stopping Muivah in the first round, we do not know when the next round would take place and how many rounds would there be between the forces of Integrity and Disintegrity before the issue is finally settled or will it ever ?

Unfortunately the statement of the Honourable Leader about the uncontrollability of a small workforce was inappropriate to the dignity of the highest constitutional body – the August House and indeed it was not an honourable statement.

It is hoped, such impropriety would not be repeated again, in the interest of democracy and more important, to the dignity of the August House. One hopes, the Honourable Members are listening.