The sands are shifting, but very slowly. Some MLAs seem to have mustered enough courage to speak out against the pitiable state of affairs in Manipur. Earlier no MLA from the ruling coalition dare speak openly against the Chief Minister N Biren Singh who seemingly had the backing of the powerful Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Except for some rumblings and discordant voices, none of them have actually come forward to voice their grievances openly vis-à-vis the present situation in public. The opposition from Kuki MLAs is of course different.
When the ruling party MLAs visited New Delhi either on their accord or through pressure from CSOs in those days, they had lamented the reluctance of the chief minister who refused to go along with them to present Manipur’s case. In the past, they had even talked about staging dharnas in Jantar Mantar out of utter desperation. But the grievances remained only in private conversations.
The ‘likely’ consequences of an open revolt against the leadership had so far held them back and their ready excuse was party loyalty, while in fact their every action or inaction is dictated by their own sense of political survival. They are also concerned about their own prospects in the next assembly elections if the present crisis lingers. But as they continue to hold on to their posts like a drowning man hangs on to a straw for life, we could only deduce that they are still living in a dream world where money and muscle power decide elections.
It is crystal clear, they have not read the signs of the last parliamentary elections when money and muscle power did not work. One might say, assembly elections are different from parliamentary elections which was quite true in the past. And politics in the street have many a times failed to translate into votes. However, that line of thinking might not prove true in the next assembly elections.
Some among the dissenting MLAs seem to have realised the new reality and the writing on the wall. That is exactly why 19 MLAs who are part of the ruling coalition submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention and a change of leadership. Although the said MLAs are yet to publicly acknowledge the memorandum, the backlash and charges of betrayal against them more or less confirms it. Then came the withdrawal of support by its ally National People's Party (NPP) with seven MLAs.
NPP leaders had sometime back seen the vanishing support base of the government among the general population, but held back its decision to withdraw support as most of the party MLAs still want their hand in the pie. Next came the statement from Minister Y Khemchand who asked the chief minister. Other ruling MLAs from within the BJP have also begun to voice their discontent with the sorry state of affairs in public forums while calling for a change in leadership.
Clearly, the sands are shifting. Now, they have become more concerned with their own political survival than that of the party or the government. One sees less and less ruling MLAs sitting with the CM N Biren Singh at public gatherings or media briefings. Many of the MLAs had also found courage to be absent from meetings of MLAs convened by him.
(The views expressed are personal)
