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Bizarre compromise (October 10)

Electoral calculations can lead to bizarre compromises and the admission of Dr Chandramani to the Federal Party of Manipur and to be subsequently elected its president is enough proof that political parties which harp on the new found mantra of the nineties- regionalism - will go to any length to compromise on its basic principles with an eye to garner the votes. Whatever reasoning Professor Gangmumei Kamei may come up with, the writing on the wall is clear.

The Federal Party of Manipur, which was formed by a bunch of university teachers and other like-minded individuals in the mid nineties on the mantra of federalism, has now lost its way in the labyrinth of power struggle and ministerial perks. That the good professor really stepped down from the post of president of FPM. (He had held this post since the FPM came into being) and made way for Dr Chandramani can be interpreted as a last ditch effort to save the party, which had taken a severe beating in recent times.

The FPM did creditably well in the last Assembly elections returning six MLAs and was a key member of the United Front Government. However, the honeymoon was short lived and the FPM had to bear the first blow when crisis befell the UF government with two of its MLAs switching sides to the Opposition only to be later inducted into the Samata Party.

The crisis did not stop there. Two more MLAs including Kamei's trusted lieutenant Dr W Thoiba ditched the party and joined the BJP. It is a different story that Dr Thoiba has now returned to the fold of his parent party but the FPM is yet to fully recover from the blow dealt by his earlier desertion.

This is not to suggest that the death knell of the FPM has been sounded and that it has strayed from its principle of federalism. Professor Kamei may have been forced to admit Chandramani into the FPM in consonant with the fluid political situation. At the moment FPM is bereft of a leader with a mass base and Dr Chandramani and the 19 ex-MLAs may just about fill that void but the matter of greater import here is the long-term impact on the party rather than on merely sending a certain number of MLAs into the Assembly.

The danger that the larger interest of the party may be sacrificed at the altar of its electoral calculations cannot be entirely written off. True, Kamei and Chandramani were in the same ministry but supping in the same political party and being members of a coalition government are as different as cheese and chalk.

In the event of the FPM totally losing its identity, tragedy will only befall on Prof Gangmumei Kamei and the others who had a hand in giving birth to the party.

A leaf can be taken from the state unit of the CPI. Though the Communist party failed to send up even a single member in the last Assembly elections, the party is still a force to be reckoned with. FPM and its collective leadership would do wise to learn a lesson or two from this point. The credibility and longevity of a party depends on factors other than the number games. Certainly electoral gamble is not one of the factors.

(Courtesy: The Sangai Express)

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