Ibobi’s ‘good governance’ a mirage

Ask O Joy Singh, a veteran politician and an opposition leader of the state, and he will rate the SPF government as one of the worst Manipur has ever seen in recent times. ‘‘What good governance? Whose stability is the government talking about? Simply lasting three years because nobody can defect now does not mean there is a stable government. There is nothing on the developmental front. Huge sums of money made available by the Centre are being siphoned off,’’ says Singh, who is also president of the Manipur People’s Party (MPP). Singh in fact is currently in the national capital and wants the Union Home Ministry to intervene to break the impasse.

‘‘Anybody can call a bandh in a democracy. But that does not mean a government should sit idle. Where is the effort to end it? Stability must mean stability and peace for the common man too,’’ the MPP chief says. Equally sore is state BJP chief Chaoba Singh. ‘‘Ask the man on the street or in a remote village if anything good has happened to him in the past three years since Ibobi Singh took over. There has been agitation after agitation. Elderly women had to disrobe in public to protest the rape and murder of a woman by security forces. Supply of essential items has come to a halt. Basic right to life has been violated,’’ says Chaoba Singh.

The man on the street is also equally sore. ‘‘The Government has failed to provide security to people like us who risk our lives to transport essential commodities to the state,’’ complains Mangi Singh, a truck driver who had to drive his truck with broken windshields even when there was a police escort on NH-39 through Nagaland.

It is difficult to get to talk to Chief Minister Ibobi Singh. He is always unavailable. Chief Secretary S S Siddhu is ready to talk but not about the on-going crisis arising out of the economic blockade. ‘‘Please speak to the Chief Minister,’’ is his reply to queries on how the government is handling the situation.

‘‘Good governance is also about providing security to government employees. It was only a few weeks ago that all the 200-odd engineers of the state public works department resigned en masse because the government could not provide them security from extortions and abductions from different militant outfits,’’ said N Tombi Singh, a retired government officer who has joined the BJP. ‘‘Good governance also means keeping your party MLAs and MPs united. But seven of the Congress MLAs and two MPs have signed a memorandum to the Prime Minister recently extending support to the NSCN(IM) demand for inclusion of the Naga-inhabited districts of Manipur in Greater Nagalim. The Chief Minister knows they have signed under pressure from the NSCN(I-M). But he has remained mum on the issue,’’ adds Tombi Singh.

Equally dissatisfied with the Ibobi Singh government is the United Committee of Manipur (UCM), an umbrella body of several NGOs and civil society organizations, which has been opposing any attempt to slice off Manipur’s hill districts in the name of finding a solution to the NSCN(I-M)’s demands. ‘‘Why is it that there is unrest and agitation all around if the government claims it is providing good governance? Why is it that several new underground outfits have emerged in the recent couple of years if there is good governance,’’ asks Yumnamcha Dilip Kumar, spokesman of UCM.

(Tomorrow: The growing Hill-Valley divide)