Dissidence within a political party or revolt against the leadership of a political party are all acceptable things within the tenets of democracy and at times needs to be encouraged when the issue at hand concerns the interest of the Nation or the whole people of a State. But when politicians threaten to rock a fledgling Government over such 'mundane' issue as Ministerial berths then it signifies that something is very rotten with the mindset of the very people orchestrating the revolt or dissidence. The open revolt staged by some disgruntled Congress legislators and MSCP men in the evening of March 12 after they were left out in the first Ministry expansion of the Congress led Secular Progressive Front reveals the sick mentality of the dissidents and their blind obsession for power. If the revolt or dissidence was over some issue confronting the State, then all right thinking persons would have thrown their weight behind the dissidents and they may even earn laurels for daring to stand up against the party's leadership. But there was just no issue over which the handful of Congmen and MSCP members staged the revolt and assembled at the official residence of a certain gentleman who also happens to be a Congress MLA. The SPF Government is only 7 days old and President's Rule has just been revoked and a few handfuls of political figures who managed to wing their way into the August floor of the Assembly have absolutely no justification in holding the State to ransom and throw Manipur into another period of political uncertainty over some purely personal agenda. By any standard the first expansion was well balanced with each of the SPF partners equally represented in the Council of Ministers. Coalition politics is about taking the interest of each of the partners into consideration and not pandering to the fancy and whims of all power mongers.

The beauty of democracy is it allows different opinion to be aired and in the process it also allows revolt and dissidence against the political leadership. Thus the Nationalist Congress Party was born after some prominent leaders of the Congress, including Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma started questioning whether a person with foreign origin should be eligible for the post of Prime Minister. VP Singh revolted against the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi in the late 80 - over Bofors, Fairfax and a host of other corruption charges and ultimately managed to become the Prime Minister of the country. Even earlier three prominent members of the Congress resigned from the party protesting over the Shah Bano case. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose took on the Congress leadership and the Father of the Nation himself over issues which he felt close to his heart. All these show that revolt and dissidence against the party leadership is not only acceptable but justified at times when they involve issues concerning the interest of the Nation and the people. But here in Manipur a look al the political history since attaining Statehood will show that revolt against the party leadership has always been dictated by personal agenda and not issues concerning the people. Jokers who think that they can hold the State to ransom over Ministerial kursis need to be told where they belongs. The crisis may be resolved but the developments in the evening of Tuesday is a chilling reminder of what a handful of over ambitious MLAs can do to attain their narrow political ends. Enough is enough. Manipur has suffered enough just because of a few self serving political figures.