Postponing decision never helps
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 05 2011 -

When there is serious divergence of point of views on an issue, it is obvious that finding a meeting point is always going to be a difficult proposition.

Consequently, confronted with such a scenario, people at the helm of affairs, be it in international bodies like the UN, national governments, state governments organizations, tend to sit over the issue, as if trying to wish it away.

In all likelihood they might be making sincere effort to find a solution but in most cases as taking any decision runs the risk of displeasing or hurting the sentiment of one party or the other, the authority concern keep postponing taking a decision.

But when you are entrusted with taking decisions, not doing so, matter how many people are displeased with that decision, is clearly running away from the problem at hand.

This ability nay courage to take decision, which is sometimes also referred to as political will, is one of the most important qualities of a leadership.

Of course, one is not arguing that people at the helm of affairs should be obsessed with taking quick decision without going into the pros and cons of the issue in question or ride roughshod over all opposition and voices of dissidence.

True sense of democracy, many would argue, lie in how much the voices of opposition, the voices of the minority who disagree with the majority, is respected and accommodated.

But then this should not become an excuse for inaction. When we pan our attention across we find that in the contemporary times, instances of inaction on many issues of significance abound at the national and of course at our state.

I think this country would rank among the top ten when it comes to postponing uncomfortable decisions, if not in GDP or HDI rankings. This short history of independent India is strewn with monumental instances of sitting over issues, of delayed decisions.

Take the case of the Ram Janmabhoomi - Babri Masjid (Mosque) issue, though this controversy or conflict goes quite a long back, it resurfaced around the 80s and reached a sort of climax with the demolition of the Babri Masjid the dispute 1992.

Since it a very complex and delicate issue which has aroused a lot of passion in the past and which has the potential of doing so in the future, leading to communal flare ups and even deaths, the government of India over the years has been has in a way failed to summon the so called political will to take a decision, expecting the judiciary to bail it out.

The issue still stands unresolved. Coming to Manipur, our leaders have almost perfected sitting over an issue to a fine art form.

The issue of Sadar Hills District which has engulfed all of us here in Manipur in some way or the other is a classic example of this postponing of taking a decision.

Forty years down the line since the issue came in focus, it is still unresolved.

Need we say more? Over the past few of years, we have seen many instances of our leaders going for the soft option of delaying taking decisions or at best fire fighting with ad hoc decisions.

Government employees going for cease work agitation time and again is a clear manifestation of this ad hocism of the government.

But such approach where you wait for an issue to die out over time, as is very evident now, simple does not work.

And, contrary to the intent, the issue only grows bigger, the problem that much more intractable.