Runs up to the Hiyanglam by election : Peppered with poll talk
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: Ocotber 08, 2014 -

Poll talk. More often the reality is clouded by a good dosage of promises and assurances.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju somehow came close to this observation if his statement to the voters of Hiyanglam Assembly Constituency on October 6 is anything to go by.

Spelling out tall promises, going on the offensive against the others and singing one’s paeans may be the di riguer of all electioneering processes but there is a thin dividing line between what will go down well with the public and what will not.

Unfortunate it is but the young Union Minister seems to have over looked this when he announced that if the BJP candidate is defeated then Manipur stands the chance of receiving little benefits.

Not announced but more than clear that what the Minister said or sought to convey was that if the BJP candidate is elected then Manipur would receive all the benefits due to it.

Equating the welfare of all the people and the State to a single by election in an Assembly Constituency.

Maybe the BJP sees more than the result of a by election, but the result of a by election that too in a single Assembly Constituency cannot be the yardstick to judge the mood and aspirations of the people.

Maybe the young Union Minister is yet to learn anything from the by poll results held not so long back in some States of mainland India.

On the other hand, it also stands true that the outcome of the by election could be an indicator of things to come, if the Congress candidate is rejected by the voters.

A possibility that cannot be written off that easily and which must have started troubling the minds of a large number of State Congress leaders.

If the announcement of Rijiju sounded more like poll talk in a bid to win over the minds of the people, then he was bang on target when he criticised the ruling State Congress Government of indulging in rampant corruption.

Nothing can be proved as of now and there may be nothing to prove, but the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs had a point when he stated that the ruling Congress Government in the State has become synonymous with corruption.

It also sounded good when he announced that the Centre has been working round the clock to launch an investigation into some major cases of misappropriating public money.

A point that has all the potential to go down well with the whole people of the State.

Still difficult to say whether Rijiju was merely trying to get the attention of the voters or if he really meant it and this is where the Centre can do something, especially in the backdrop of the fact that a serving Chief Minister has already been sent to jail on corruption charges that date back to more than ten years.

Interesting to see that the Hiyanglam by election has become so important in the eyes of some political parties and this is where the voters need to realise their responsibilities.

Promises will come from all the political parties and candidates, but the all important point for the voters is to remember that in casting their vote they will be deciding their future.