By: Bobo Khuraijam
Being a true son of the soil, the writer of this column loves to sweat and grunt while trying to meet the deadlines. From a desultory publicity stunt of showcasing one’s opinion and with the sole purpose of proving oneself to be none other than an obsolete breed of intellectual, hereafter there will be an attempt to trouble the readers every fortnightly. Again, being a true son of the soil, there are millions of excuses whenever the column fails to show up. Thus readers should be careful not to make a fuss or one will be summoned to the hills. And please remember that this column never lies. Most of the stuff is directly collected from the leipung. NO FAKE APPOINTEES. Now, enough of self introduction, the musing in detail;
ROT AT THE ROOT:
The panchayat election which is popularly sermonized to be the harbinger to grass root democracy ended a month back. Some elderly electorate claimed with surprise that they have never seen the panchayat election so vibrant and lively. Sounds of bullets coughing out of fire arms, inter candidate rivalry assault among the workers. It ended peacefully. It is a circus in which the spectators also have a greater role to play. For a late comer who had never privileged to watch the circus from the front row, it was a wonderful show indeed. The vibrancy and the liveliness are arguably because of two important reasons. First, it is because of the shadows of the 9th assembly election still hanging over the panchayat election. Our voters were busy tooth picking the fish bone from the fish they last had during the assembly election. And no sooner the panchayat election arrived. Expectation yet again ran high among the voters for championing their immediate cause of self-indulging in various grand feast alias ‘vote ki meeting’. With conviction, they submitted a list of names to the candidates. In return, they get what they want, all in hard cash. All those fumes and dust of the election campaign was of the same colour with the assembly election. A young ward member candidate who lost the election has admitted to have spent around sixty thousand rupees in the election. Out of the blue, another ward member candidate distributed rice to the voters. Wife of a Zila parishad candidate picketed at the gate of a MLA. The candidate’s money was supposedly used by the MLA in his election. So they wanted their money back. The amount was of a few lakhs only. Another heart warming scene was of young girl selling her father’s postal ballot at the cost of rupees five hundred only. Multi colour posters, make shift eat outs, vehicles of all hues, local brew…all these served as props of the grass root political circus. So much for the ‘miyam gi sewa’ .Rules remained as printed words. Strictures given by the state election commission is hardly maintained .Members of the legislative assembly is restricted from participating in the panchayat election. But we noticed some of the honorable member dishonoring their position. Some of them roam freely with their escorts in the dark cover of the night. Financing their chosen candidates and learning the ‘generalship’ of pocketing local leaders. This exercise hampers the essence of direct participation of the people as the panchayat elected leaders deemed to become the MLA’s pawn. There is a broad consensus among the people that political parties take part indirectly in the panchayat election. However the voters do not seem to comply with the direct participation of the sitting MLA. At the end of the day, it would give an interesting picture to watch closely in the next assembly election. Just recently, the deputy chairperson of the planning commission, Mr Montek singh Alluwahlia eulogize about the positive development brought about by the panchayati raj. It is well apparent that he has neglected the picture of Manipur. Delhi is far from here because the world is ever shrinking .Like the Nambul river and Imphal river, the panchayat system has been neglected. It flows with it every kind of dirt. When this musing goes to the press the smell of buying and selling the Zila parishad candidates will be in found in the rural air. The one who buys the maximum number of candidates becomes the ‘adhaksya’ or the ‘upa-adhaksya’ of the four valley districts respectively. No wonder, most of them drive a 21st century car with an honorarium of rupees two thousand a month.
FLEDGLING DEMOCRACY:
One popular leipung member asserts that our society is not ready for democracy yet. That it is like throwing democracy as a gift to our brethrens in mahavali jungle (poor guys, they are still waiting for the flood relief team). Perhaps our member lacks brevity in her assertion. But it holds a valid argument as far as the present electoral politics is concern. FINANCE is the key word. It opens any kind of lock. 73rd and 74th amendment of the Indian Constitution which specifically mention about empowering the rural masses and their participation at the policy level has little relevance here. Central government funded schemes remained hidden in their ‘schemes of things’ while Kerosene, rice and sugars are their face saving device. Our political fat cats and their diatribe remained an all time low. They never try to explain to the people what panchayati raj is. Voters are eluded from the fundamental issues. As a result they elect the fat Cat who can fulfill their sort term ‘wants’. Those running with posters, flags and festoons are chained by the subtle bond of Sagei Natei, Khangna-chanaba Leikai-hinggonung. Others worked with the philistine hope to seek personal favour which comes in the guise of CONTRACT and PDS agent. It is to be noted that the present social trend have also curtailed the voters from looking at things beyond their personal courtyard. Now, who is responsible for this unhealthy social trend? One might push it aside saying that it is a clichéd argument which does not have an end.
But is has to be seriously considered that the major responsibility lies on the shoulder of our legislator. They are the one who have taken the supreme task of social engineering. When asked not to accept money to cast their vote, our voters attacked with their rational, “you must keep in your mind that election is an institutionalized bonanza, once the candidate wins it is sure he/she will reap their harvest. Why do we waste time and energy judging the best candidate?” These systematic financing have corroded the mind of the voters. They ultimately became ELECTORAL FRANKENSTEIN. You nod your head to every candidate and get what you want. And live in a paradise of what you deserve. No one is to be blamed. This time the state finance commission have earmarked rupees 23 crore for the panchayat. Here is wishing every elected candidate a golden harvest.
FOOT NOTE : Our Leipung Ningthou says that, Mr. Ibobi’s attempt to woe foreign investors is like advertising a 50 years old Leishabi with cosmetics in the midst of a Thabal Chongba.
Source: Kangla Online
Being a true son of the soil, the writer of this column loves to sweat and grunt while trying to meet the deadlines. From a desultory publicity stunt of showcasing one’s opinion and with the sole purpose of proving oneself to be none other than an obsolete breed of intellectual, hereafter there will be an attempt to trouble the readers every fortnightly. Again, being a true son of the soil, there are millions of excuses whenever the column fails to show up. Thus readers should be careful not to make a fuss or one will be summoned to the hills. And please remember that this column never lies. Most of the stuff is directly collected from the leipung. NO FAKE APPOINTEES. Now, enough of self introduction, the musing in detail;
ROT AT THE ROOT:
The panchayat election which is popularly sermonized to be the harbinger to grass root democracy ended a month back. Some elderly electorate claimed with surprise that they have never seen the panchayat election so vibrant and lively. Sounds of bullets coughing out of fire arms, inter candidate rivalry assault among the workers. It ended peacefully. It is a circus in which the spectators also have a greater role to play. For a late comer who had never privileged to watch the circus from the front row, it was a wonderful show indeed. The vibrancy and the liveliness are arguably because of two important reasons. First, it is because of the shadows of the 9th assembly election still hanging over the panchayat election. Our voters were busy tooth picking the fish bone from the fish they last had during the assembly election. And no sooner the panchayat election arrived. Expectation yet again ran high among the voters for championing their immediate cause of self-indulging in various grand feast alias ‘vote ki meeting’. With conviction, they submitted a list of names to the candidates. In return, they get what they want, all in hard cash. All those fumes and dust of the election campaign was of the same colour with the assembly election. A young ward member candidate who lost the election has admitted to have spent around sixty thousand rupees in the election. Out of the blue, another ward member candidate distributed rice to the voters. Wife of a Zila parishad candidate picketed at the gate of a MLA. The candidate’s money was supposedly used by the MLA in his election. So they wanted their money back. The amount was of a few lakhs only. Another heart warming scene was of young girl selling her father’s postal ballot at the cost of rupees five hundred only. Multi colour posters, make shift eat outs, vehicles of all hues, local brew…all these served as props of the grass root political circus. So much for the ‘miyam gi sewa’ .Rules remained as printed words. Strictures given by the state election commission is hardly maintained .Members of the legislative assembly is restricted from participating in the panchayat election. But we noticed some of the honorable member dishonoring their position. Some of them roam freely with their escorts in the dark cover of the night. Financing their chosen candidates and learning the ‘generalship’ of pocketing local leaders. This exercise hampers the essence of direct participation of the people as the panchayat elected leaders deemed to become the MLA’s pawn. There is a broad consensus among the people that political parties take part indirectly in the panchayat election. However the voters do not seem to comply with the direct participation of the sitting MLA. At the end of the day, it would give an interesting picture to watch closely in the next assembly election. Just recently, the deputy chairperson of the planning commission, Mr Montek singh Alluwahlia eulogize about the positive development brought about by the panchayati raj. It is well apparent that he has neglected the picture of Manipur. Delhi is far from here because the world is ever shrinking .Like the Nambul river and Imphal river, the panchayat system has been neglected. It flows with it every kind of dirt. When this musing goes to the press the smell of buying and selling the Zila parishad candidates will be in found in the rural air. The one who buys the maximum number of candidates becomes the ‘adhaksya’ or the ‘upa-adhaksya’ of the four valley districts respectively. No wonder, most of them drive a 21st century car with an honorarium of rupees two thousand a month.
FLEDGLING DEMOCRACY:
One popular leipung member asserts that our society is not ready for democracy yet. That it is like throwing democracy as a gift to our brethrens in mahavali jungle (poor guys, they are still waiting for the flood relief team). Perhaps our member lacks brevity in her assertion. But it holds a valid argument as far as the present electoral politics is concern. FINANCE is the key word. It opens any kind of lock. 73rd and 74th amendment of the Indian Constitution which specifically mention about empowering the rural masses and their participation at the policy level has little relevance here. Central government funded schemes remained hidden in their ‘schemes of things’ while Kerosene, rice and sugars are their face saving device. Our political fat cats and their diatribe remained an all time low. They never try to explain to the people what panchayati raj is. Voters are eluded from the fundamental issues. As a result they elect the fat Cat who can fulfill their sort term ‘wants’. Those running with posters, flags and festoons are chained by the subtle bond of Sagei Natei, Khangna-chanaba Leikai-hinggonung. Others worked with the philistine hope to seek personal favour which comes in the guise of CONTRACT and PDS agent. It is to be noted that the present social trend have also curtailed the voters from looking at things beyond their personal courtyard. Now, who is responsible for this unhealthy social trend? One might push it aside saying that it is a clichéd argument which does not have an end.
But is has to be seriously considered that the major responsibility lies on the shoulder of our legislator. They are the one who have taken the supreme task of social engineering. When asked not to accept money to cast their vote, our voters attacked with their rational, “you must keep in your mind that election is an institutionalized bonanza, once the candidate wins it is sure he/she will reap their harvest. Why do we waste time and energy judging the best candidate?” These systematic financing have corroded the mind of the voters. They ultimately became ELECTORAL FRANKENSTEIN. You nod your head to every candidate and get what you want. And live in a paradise of what you deserve. No one is to be blamed. This time the state finance commission have earmarked rupees 23 crore for the panchayat. Here is wishing every elected candidate a golden harvest.
FOOT NOTE : Our Leipung Ningthou says that, Mr. Ibobi’s attempt to woe foreign investors is like advertising a 50 years old Leishabi with cosmetics in the midst of a Thabal Chongba.
Source: Kangla Online
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