Editorials- New Parties Galore

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New Parties Galore (October 13)

New political alliance are springing up in Manipur like never before in
anticipation of early elections to the 8th Manipur Legislative Assembly. The only problem is, although the teams that form these parties are supposedly new, the players who make these teams are in most cases, old faces.

The changes witnessed so far have hence been more in the nature of reshuffles and whitewashes. Or to use a more sinister analogy, snakes shedding old skin. Of course defection is a technical term now after the introduction of the 10th schedule of the constitution. Betraying, backstabbing, hopping parties... none of these can be termed, as defection unless they fulfill what the 10th schedule says is defection.

That precisely has been our problem and that precisely, it seems now, will remain the problem of Manipur politics. But there is a saving grace. The defectors are not fooling around with the people's mandate by switching party loyalty after the elections. We hope we are not counting our chicken before they are hatched though. After all, what guarantee do we have that the pre-elections loyalty shifts will not carry over post-elections.

At the next elections, it will be of interest to watch the impact, if any, on the behavior and political commitments of our politicians by the fateful and tragic events that peaked on June 18, 2001. More than the politicians, it will also be the electoral behavior of our electorate, post June 18 that will come under scrutiny.

Will the momentous event make a dent on the loathsome political trends of betrayal and vote purchasing that made the mob ire on June 18, 2001 gravitate on institution that represented electoral politics as much as the government establishment of which it is the base? From indications so far, there seems to be little likelihood that anything will change substantially.

We will not be surprised at all if post election party hopping still happens. The brand of politics before us, has been as much a leveler as death itself. All who enter it, except a very few, end up corrupt. All ends up abandoning ordinary logic that determine good and bad, proper and improper. And so we have seen young blood enter it and end up nothing much better than the veterans they once so vehemently denounced at election times.

The literate and not so literate, the ones with clean images and others known to have scruples, all have ended up as the same stereotyped politician, knowing no party loyalty or believing promises are meant to be kept.

We hope our apprehensions are wrongly founded and the politics in the state become more focused as well as resolute on carrying forward the common good of the people. We hope all the hardships and tragedies that the state has gone through in the months that have gone by do not ever fail to be taken as the bacon of future politics.

When we talk of June 18 tragedy, let us also keep in mind the other tragedy of the rift between different sections of the people of the state that became more than evident. Our wish is that politics henceforth becomes as much a healing process, apart from all the other things that it is meant to be. In giving the desired shape to politics of the future, let us also not forget that our electorate has a big responsibility as the politicians.

(Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press)

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