All Hat and No Cattle: The Crisis in Manipur and its Governance Failure

The “all hat, no cattle” syndrome, which has often been cited by Indian Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, refers to a situation where talk takes the place of work, and show has replaced substance. Manipur finds itself in a situation where the “all hat, no cattle” syndrome is no longer a simile but a reality, helping to define the failure that has existed in governance that has spanned administrations, whether that was under a democratic setup or under President’s Rule. The state is witnessing not just a display of political incompetence but a state of institutional incompetence.
The imposition of President’s Rule in a state is not ordinary; it happens only when the machinery fails in the state. Imposition of President’s Rule in Manipur revealed the failure of the elected state machinery to safeguard life and maintain law and order and fulfill the constitutional obligations. Along with the confession of failure by the state’s machinery came the promise and expectation from the people of the state too. The imposition aimed to introduce objectivity, decisiveness, and efficiency with the Union Government taking charge without being influenced by the local politics and thereby ensuring to resume normalcy by opening the Lifelines and rehabilitating the displaced people. But again the state suffers from assurances and lack of actions by the state machinery.
“The national highways are vital in this sense, since they bring in food, fuel, drugs, and other necessities to a landlocked state.” Governments both before and under Presidents’ Rule have “repeatedly assured on these routes free movement and adequate security.” Each of these assurances has been presented as a definitive gesture. It is a government which has lost the right to talk of control, of being normal, which cannot ensure free flow on the national highways in their own territory.
The condition of the internally displaced persons reveals an even sadder situation of failure. Thousands have been made to leave their homes and promised that the relief camps are only a temporarily arranged facility.
Running parallel to these shortcomings is the politicized discourse regarding the construction of a fence along the borders and the eviction of illegitimate immigrants. The matter of border control is a grave issue of national concern, and being a highly sensitized border state like Manipur, it needed to have been treated as a discourse rather than a politics of rhetoric. Threatening rhetoric has replaced the discourse of administrative planning and organization. There is no clarity regarding identity formation policies and administrative timelines.
This narrative holds apart by the sheer force of contradictions that it embodies. To add insult to injury, claims about how the chairman of the Zomi Revolutionary Organisation himself is an illegal immigrant in Britain have considerably dented the claims of deportation. Wherever persons linked to calls for deportation find themselves questioned about their own status, hypocrisy lurks around every corner of this particular discourse.
The biggest harm being caused by this lack of competence is the dissipation of trust. Trust has a very high place in the strategic communication blueprints of all organizations in a crisis-like situation. If the communication does not add up to any action on the ground, trust will be lost. This is what has happened in Manipur, resulting in a state of polarization, economic stagnation, and a feeling of being left high and dry.
The situation in Manipur cannot be coped with by giving press notes, review meetings, and visits. It needs action that the people can witness—the running of the highway without the fear of danger, the return of the displaced people with honor and security, the management of the borders through the law and not empty boasts, and the application of the law without any bias. Until then, the judgement will not change. Manipur is not experiencing the absence of power. It is experiencing the presence of ineptness. Until then, the state is and will remain all hat and no cattle.