Yesterday Once More

Its election time in Manipur and the people are fed up with years of corruption. They want change, but will they get it?

- Bidhayak Das

Out of the five states in India that have already held or are going to hold elections, Manipur is perhaps the smallest in terms of the total number of seats. It has 60 assembly seats and a voting population size of a little over 17 lakh. The election story though is no different here: it is either about the Congress versus the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), or about corruption, tainted politicians, money and muscle power and a deeply embedded and intensifying polarization which keeps threatening to tear the social fabric to shreds.

Each election raises hopes among the people of Manipur that there will be a new beginning, ushering in a dawn of prosperity and an end to discrimination, whether by those who ruled the land from New Delhi or those who sit on the thrones of power in Imphal’s North Block. But, alas, the story doesn’t change! Elections come and elections go, but the same politicians return to unleash their agenda which benefits rent seekers, corrupt politicians and bureaucrats, ignoring the public that waits for long hours outside polling stations to cast their precious votes.

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