An Open Letter To The Hon'ble Chief Minister Of Manipur

Dr. Khomdon Lisam *

Okram Ibobi Singh swearing-in-ceremony as CM of Manipur on March 14 2012 :: Pix - Bullu Raj

About a week's back, some youths came to me asking for donation. When I asked what for do they want the donation. One of them replied " Sir , we want to give a Life Time Achievement Award to Dr. T. Meinya , MP. " I asked them what achievement he has done during the last 10 years ? He replied, "Dr.T. Meinya always remain faithful and loyal to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. He keep sitting silently in a drowsy mood without uttering a word in the Parliament for the last 10 years. He never annoyed Sonia Gandhi by raising the core issues of Manipur . Is it not something to be rewarded for".

I said " but he introduced a private members resolution bill that article 3 of Indian Constitution will not be applicable in case of Manipur in 2012 ". Another boy continued "He picked up the idea only when people start publishing articles on the subject in the local newspapers. That is not his original idea . Apart from what we have mentioned, he always send out " Yaipha Paojel " on the eve of every festival . Is it not something good." I told them not to point fingers to Dr.T . Meinya alone.

We ourselves are to be blamed. I give them a long lecture . Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. Do not you fight for your children, for your family. We should also fight for our motherland, Manipur. Let the Manipuris be united for a grater common cause. Let us live together or die together . Let us be united . If you do not fight for your motherland, you live for nothing .

It will be better if you die for something . We are old people. The world belongs to you. You are full of vigour and vitality. Our hopes are placed on you . Manipur's future belongs to you. We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate. Good people never come forward to contest election because they do not have sufficient money. Many good people never vote because he does not like any of the candidates . This is the truth .

Truth is not determined by majority vote. That is why the AAM AADMI Party comes up to encourage good people to contest election without much money. After much discussion, they agreed to drop the idea. This sense of awakening is coming up slowly among the young people of Manipur

Perhaps, your honour may be aware that corruption and nepotism were the main reasons behind the fall of Roman empire, the French Revolution, October Revolution in Russia, fall of Chiang Kai-Shek Government in China and even the defeat of the mighty Congress party in Delhi. But we are not ready to take any lesson from the pages of history.

Mahatma Gandhi said in May, 1939- "I would go to the length of giving the whole congress a decent burial, rather than put up with the corruption that is rampant." This was the outburst of Mahatma Gandhi against rampant corruption in Congress ministries formed under 1935 Act in six states in the year 1937.

Corruption poses a serious threat to democracy. Corruption at the time of election influences the voters to decide on the basis of money and not on merit. Corruption undermines all the basic principles of democracy, good governance and creates a social chaos. The General Election of 2012 in Manipur was an excellent example where the political parties compete each other in distributing the highest amount of money to the voters during the election campaigns. This makes the winning candidate very cheap in the eyes of the people and people have no faith in them.

Considering these facts, I would like to appeal to you to take up the following few actions to ensure a FREE AND FAIR ELECTION AND CORRUPTION. -FREE Lok Sabha Election in April, 2014

1. The Hon'ble Chief Minister, Manipur may kindly announce to the people of Manipur through all media channels that this ensuing Lok Sabha election-2014 in Manipur will be free and fair and free of corruption and the State Government will take up all possible actions to root out corruption during election campaigns.

2. The Hon'ble Chief Minister may kindly instruct all police personnel to arrest and book under the relevant Acts and Laws people who are distributing money or arranging feast or entertainment programmers by any political party.

3. The Hon'ble Chief Minister may kindly arrange to use EVM machines with paper trail so that the EVM machine may not be manipulated in favour of a particular candidate. The heart of democracy is voting. The heart of voting is TRUST that each vote is recorded and counted with accuracy and impartiality . The purpose of an election is not to name the winner, but to convince the losers that they lost. (Dr. Dan Wallach, Computer security expert, Rice University ).

Voting is a statutory right under the Representation of People Act 1950 and fundamental rights in India under Article 19(1)(a) to know the antecedent of the candidates contesting for the election. A voter has the right to know whether his / her vote has been recorded and counted . Can a voter in Manipur today know whether his /her vote has been recorded or counted . with accuracy and impartiality If so , where is the proof and where is the accountability ? Use of EVM machine with paper trail will earn faith and confidence of the voters in the system and enhance reputation of the Hon'ble C.M

4. In the last General Election , the people have seen that the entire police force were used by the state machinery in the best interest of a single political party. We believe that the present Director General of Police and his team of senior officers are working efficiently and effectively with all honesty and full integrity . This is the area where Police- Public Relationship may be built up. You may kindly instruct your MLAs not to use the police personnel for campaigning for a single political party.

By doing these small steps, you will enhance the image of Congress party and your name will remain immortal in Manipur .