Manipur: For over a year now, Manipur has been without a government that is worthy of the name, the qualities, the way it operates, and everything else. I am among those who have often discussed what government is. Additionally, it has been reported that the administration’s head is already the subject of jeers on social media, where he is being disparaged in extremely nasty ways. The audience is probably now completely persuaded of his shamelessness.
As Manipur is also likely to have a cabinet government, allow me to begin today with some background information on them. The way Kooiman defines governance—”Governing, compared with the steering of a ship, meansnavigating by continuously perceiving the movements of the subsystems, and, dependent on these movements, adjustingthe course”—seems quite apt to me and will hopefully lead to more conversations. A “heterogenous collection of authorities exercising a vast variety of functions” is how Lord Ivor Jennings described a Cabinet Government.
There is a necessity for a cabinet government in a democracy since every society must be characterized by a plurality of personalities, aims, and performances in order to serve the social functions adequately. Curiously yet, the Manipur government’s public face does not at all resemble a cabinet system; rather, it most closely resembles an ineffective one-man dictatorship.People initially anticipated that Manipur would have a government that was “navigating by continuously perceiving the movements of the subsystems, and, dependent on these movements, adjustingthe course.” But eventually, it devolved into a one-man regime with a REACTIONIST mindset. However, reactionism cannot be a government policy or a guiding concept of any administration. Now that he has spoken “LEMNA THAROI,” the head of democratic government has differentiated himself.(none would be spared) with heightened voice and anguish facial expressions. Lemna Tharoi is invariably a Manipuri idiom implying actions would be taken against anyone to make the ‘culprit’ and others accountable for any action which is to the disliking of the head of the Cabinet. For a very short period some actions have already taken placeto make it look like committed to accountability. This certainly served the purpose of dulling down the public thinking, sharing and debate on social and public actions of the government.This public behavior was undoubtedly not one of accepting and endorsing the government’s actions, but rather a common perception among the populace that it is useless to align oneself with the government’s ideas and actions. The government’s statements were interpreted as an instance of sentiment and action rather than actual action. This inherently implies that it is a response to something that has already occurred. Given that the current Head of the People of Manipur frequently uses this as a point of reference, I worry that he may be using reactionalism as a coping mechanism for his performance issues.
I would want to underline unequivocally that reactionism is neither a program nor a philosophy for a policy. Policies must take the lead in advancing a certain social goal; REACTIONISM can never serve as a beacon of hope for a community. Manipur requires a policy. There is no way to end the current social unrest by letting everyone talk freely and murder each other like in a public space. Fundamentally, policy is. Leave room for others to lead if they are unable to change policy; as the Cabinet is essentially non-functional, this appeal is limited to the Cabinet leader.
I was overcome with intense sadness and uncontrollably crying as I read this section about how COVID 19 was still having an impact on Manipur, my own country and people. The added responsibility of murdering between the Meeteis and the Kukis falls on us in this. We have our political heads sleeping over; the policy problem has been turned into and will remain a social problem. This crisis should be handled by government policies, not by the relative numbers slain. Only policy is required in Manipur to address the current issue.