The Chief Minister of Manipur, O Ibobi and his ministerial team was welcomed with a fusillade of bullets and providing a series of blasts as an encore to mark a very rare visit to one of the districts under his administration which is about to complete the third term. While some forms of agitations and public demonstrations displaying the displeasures and frustrations of the public is understandable and even expected, the use of lethal force to attempt an assassination, or assassinations as the intention of the attackers might very well be, have shocked not only the state but the entire nation. The audacity and ease with which the series of attacks were carried out since the wee hours of the morning of the Chief Minister’s planned visit speaks everything about the kind of respect the perpetrators of the attack accorded towards the state and central security forces who were supposed to have secured and dominated the areas which were briefed and planned days in advance. The boycott call against the Chief Minister’s Ukhrul visit spearheaded by Tangkhul Naga Long to protest the forced-inauguration of the still incomplete district hospital needs to be taken seriously, and in all likeliness the point raised would not have been without basis. Yet if had that been the case, would it not been better for the boycotting CSO to highlight and physically point out the discrepancies, complaints and concerns while the CM is on the spot? Now that the focus and fallout of the unfortunate and condemnable incident have been shifted, it would be a while before the public in the district could avail of better administrative amenities and opportunities. Come to think of it, how do such alleged shoddy workmanship and negligent attitude allowed to be practiced in implementation of various public development projects in the area despite the presence of such proactive and obviously influential organisations as the TNL? Or stranger still, in spite of the presence of unquestionably persuasive forces which can send the Chief Minister of the state scurrying back to his shrunken domain in the state capital despite the security forces and all their ‘arrangements’? Or is it that these so called social organizations standing for the interests of the public are suffering from lapses in their objectives and vision that has allowed certain individuals or groups to take advantage and corner the real share of the public?
As for the state government as well as the centre, the incident is a slap which should jolt the complacency and procrastination out of the system. It has laid bare the baseless claim of improved law and order situation in the state and has proven beyond any shred of doubt that nobody is safe in Manipur. The centre and the state should take the velvet glove off and deal with the reality before the situation reaches the tipping point.
