Despite a call to boycott the Congress by five underground groups and despite opposition parties in the state forming a grand alliance to fight the ruling party,the state Congress is in a stronger position than ever before. And if Congress supporters are to be believed,it is because of one man the Chief Minister of Manipur and the most well-known name in the state,Okram Ibobi Singh. Even detractors grudgingly admit that the Chief Minister has managed to bring in,if not anything else,a stable government in the state for the first time in its history. It hasnt been easy going for Ibobi Singh,though. His first term,say his supporters,was mostly spent fighting off dissidents within the party. It was only in his second term that the CM started focusing on infrastructure development. In this,he has done more than any CM before him. Ten years ago we didnt have proper roads even within capital Imphal. But this has been his main focus over the past few years and he has managed to achieve quite a bit, said a Congress worker. Hailing from a poor peasant family (both his parents were rice farmers and illiterate),Ibobi studied at a village school and went on to do his graduation from DM College,Imphal. Explaining how he got interested in politics,Ibobi told The Indian Express: After Manipur became a state in 1972,one of my uncles decided to contest the Assembly elections from our village. He lost by a mere 272 votes. I was put in charge of the entire electoral process,handling his schedule,meetings,rallies,organising political events. I was his political aide. And this gave me the first taste of politics. After Ibobis uncle,other villagers tried their luck at the hustings. When all failed,the village elders decided that Ibobi himself should be their candidate and fielded him as an Independent in 1984. At the age of 35,Ibobi won his first election and was absorbed by the Congress within a year. Four years later,he had become secretary of the state Congress Legislature Party. His priorities in his third term in power,Ibobi says,will be law and order,followed closely by development. Law and order situation. is the crux of everything. While we have carried out many of our developmental goals,this is not possible with constant grenade attacks and bandhs. In the past two terms,we have brought down influence of (militants) in the state tremendously. They are now scared,they know that if we come back again,they will suffer further. Which is why they are resorting to heavy-handed tactics like calling a ban on the Congress. It is Ibobis record of development which is behind his popularity. According to Prof Khietri Bimola at Manipur University,another big achievement of the Ibobi government has been providing a stable government. This is the first time we have had an unbroken tenure of the same government for a decade. State politics before this was riddled with defections and falling governments. Buying of votes and Assembly members was common practice. There have been instances in the past when a government hasnt lasted longer than a month and in one case fell in days. At the same time,Prof Khietri believes that while keeping its promises on infrastructure such as road construction and communication,the Congress government has failed to provide basic amenities such as water and power. There is also a view that Ibobi had mishandled the economic blockade lasting more than three months. People feel it could have been resolved faster and the situation handled better, says Prof Khietri. This is likely to go against him. Despite there being no blockade,petrol and gas cylinders are still not available in the open market. Another challenge to the state Congress could come from the hill areas,home to many tribes. The criticism levelled at Ibobi over and over again has been that the CM has concentrated his development work in the valley areas (which are Meitei dominated),leaving other districts unchanged. Ibobi claims not to be worried about new parties like the Naga Peoples Party (NPP) purportedly backed by the NSCN-IM,and the disgruntlement among Nagas over the Sadar Hills issue. Even in the last election the five United Naga Council candidates had won their seats as Independent MLAs. Later they asked to join the Congress,they were wary of the NSCN-IMs constant dictatorial attitude, said the CM. However,even if the Congress victory margin is slim,Ibobi isnt likely to be disappointed. Manipur has never seen a history of single majorities,there have always been coalition governments, says Prof Khietri.
