Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in Manipur for not conducting grass-root elections in time, state Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader O Ibobi Singh termed it an act of centralizing the power by the state government which is totally against the Indian democracy.
Ibobi, who was former state chief minister, made the statement during the launch of party’s campaign song “Laklo Chatsi Eikhoi Congress ka Loinana” at Congress Bhawan, BT Road, Imphal on Sunday.
Addressing the function, Ibobi said that India’s democracy is considered to be one of the largest democracies in the world. But its meaning has been diluted in the state with the advent of the BJP government whereby the party has intentionally been conducting many undemocratic activities.
Ibobi further said that election for Autonomous District Council (ADC) in hill areas of Manipur was held during the Congress regime after being halted for nearly 20 years. However, the election was not conducted during this present government. Besides this, even the election for urban local bodies for valley districts has not been held in time, Ibobi alleged.
“If other big states can conduct local body election despite having pandemic, then why can’t our small state conduct it? Not holding election for ADC and urban local bodies shows that the government wants to control everything,” he claimed.
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The present BJP government encourages MLAs in frequent changing of political parties, violating the 10th schedule of the Indian Constitution, he alleged while asserting that for the present scenario of the state to reach a certain situation, it requires leaders who can lead the state with sacrificing spirit. He also appealed to the people to exercise their voting rights with right decision using own conscience.
Manipur Congress Committee president N Loken Singh said that the BJP government has been adopting various strategies in election campaign to gain absolute majority in the upcoming election by hook or by crook. But all their efforts will go in vain as their government was formed with the support of five other political parties, he said.
“Some of the means adopted by the state BJP government in election campaign in order gain absolute majority are issuing threats to voters, such as buying of votes, attacking Congress candidates and attracting Congress MLAs. Nowadays, people are more intelligent and they know how to choose the deserving or qualified candidate. So I would say that all their efforts would be of no use,” Loken said.
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Loken further said that nothing has been done by the present government to highlight in their election campaign. As a result of it, they continue to mention only about CMHT, PMJAY and Ujjwala scheme while campaigning, the Congress leader said.
Not conducting any recruitment exam through the Manipur Public Service Commission during this government proves their lack of concerns about educated youth, he alleged while stating that there is acute shortage of physicians in the state during the pandemic. But despite having around 300 qualified MBBS in the state, the government has failed to recruit them as regular staff, he added.
