In the weeks and months that followed the expiry of the extended ADCs’ tenure on November 30 in 2020, everyone was found waiting for elections to the six Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) in the hill districts of Manipur.
But that was also time sections of the then incumbent ADCs still wished their tenure extended for another six months, though that didn’t happen. Certainly, without knowing a big hurdle would come a few more months down the road.
Around the same time, public demand for elections to constitute new executive council in each of the ADCs reached its zenith. A movement spear-headed by All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur (ATSUM) emerged and strived towards that direction.
This prompted the State Government of Manipur to assure that notification for the pending elections would be issued on or before May 5. That was early April and then around mid-April this year, came the second wave of the worst global health crisis — Covid-19 pandemic. It brought almost all spheres of life to a grinding halt with imposition of state-wide lockdown as in other parts of the country.
Yet, in the midst of this, the state government somehow managed to appoint all chairmen of the last ADCs as caretaker chairmen in May. They are to look after the normal routine duties of the councils and not allowed to exercise financial powers. The move is said to be a stop-gap measure in view of the power vacuum in the local governance and until new executive councils in the six ADCs are constituted.
Now, almost ten months down the line since the tenure of the last ADCs ended, the prospect for the pending elections seems to be getting even murkier.
If the public wisdom is to be believed (let’s leave aside the state authorities for the moment), then the ADC polls aren’t likely to happen any time before the impending General Elections 2022 which is likely to take place early next year. Discernment among the public has also started to tend towards this.
Questions of doubt and concern have arisen. Is the state government now putting the pending ADC polls on the back burner considering the short space of time between the two elections if at all the pending ADC polls are to happen first? But this seems more and more unlikely with each passing day.
So, if the ADC polls are put off to give way to the General Elections, which are unlikely to face a similar fate under any circumstances, then how long..? One significant fear among the people is: Will history repeat for the ADCs yet again?
There is also another consideration and that is the reorganization of constituencies under ADCs, especially in Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Pherzawl, Noney and Kamjong districts, which are among the seven new districts created by the previous Congress-led government back in 2016. Questions are being asked if this will happen before the polls or later.
Adding to this knotty issue of Byzantine nature is the conundrum surrounding the recently introduced Manipur (Hill Areas) Autonomous District Council (MADC) Bill, 2021. It was formulated under Article 371C of the Indian Constitution and recommended by the Hill Areas Committee (HAC).
However, the Valley community sees it as a threat to the state’s integrity as much as the Hill communities welcome it as a much-needed refining of autonomy or grassroots governance to secure their future and bring them on par with the valley brethren in terms of all spheres of development.
After the State Government failed to table the bill in its recent monsoon session, various hill-based organisations vented their angst against the government and imposed bandhs across the state’s hill districts. This is now being followed by non-cooperation movement and boycott call against the state government’s ‘Go To Hills 2.0’ in the hill districts.
Much water has flowed under the bridge of the pending ADC elections. But the prolonged delay in the elections is continuing to play havoc with the progress of grassroots governance in the hill districts. And further delaying of the same won’t be taken as good faith on the government’s part.
Prolonged absence of the local self government is already eating into the vitals of development in the backward hill districts. But more than that, it could even throw a monkey wrench into the ongoing efforts of all stake holders to bridge the gap between the Hills and the Valley of the state.
It’s every government’s responsibility to find a surefire means to save a strained relationship from further decadence. The government must immediately look into the situation at hand and resolve the same rather than putting it in the back of its mind. The issue is much alive and can’t be buried as such.
Needless to say, it takes political acumen and sincerity for the government to address the whole issues besetting the hill areas in right earnest. And ensuring uninterrupted presence of grassroots government in the hills certainly is the foremost step in this direction.
