Members of the campaign take pledge in Delhi on October 18

Calcutta, Jan. 27: A group of young professionals, students and professors who had moved out of strife-torn Manipur took a pledge in different cities of the country last October not to sit back and let the politicians do the talking for this Assembly election.

Along with activists and senior citizens back in Imphal, they formed the People’s Campaign for Assembly Election 2012: Deciding Our Destiny on October 18 to put forward issues plaguing the state this election.

Deben Sharma, the convener of the campaign, narrates the story so far.

“Our ground-level activities began with an oath-taking ceremony on October 18 last year which was simultaneously held in Imphal, Chandigarh, Delhi, Pune and Chennai. The second ground-level campaign began on December 6 with a public deliberation on Towards Public Issues based Election held at Manipur Press Club. Various civil society organisations, social and human rights activists, including journalists participated and supported the initiatives,” he said.

Support has steadily increased for this campaign with the membership count on Facebook at 1,176 and counting. The members, based across the country and abroad, are hooked to the developments and are posting every relevant update in the media about the election on the campaign’s page. Some are also contributing in cash through online banking.

“We have got a lot of support especially from the new generation of educated population and senior citizens. It is very encouraging and every time a new member joins, it gathers steam. Many members have contributed in cash and kind in support of the campaign ever since we started,” Sharma said.

H. Radhakrishna Sharma of Imphal, now based in Guwahati, rues the lack of “vision” in the elected representatives. He lends full support to the campaign and considers it very significant in times of such chaos. “Just to cast my vote I am in Imphal. Our state is in such a chaotic situation because of lack of good leaders. Once they get elected, they see nothing beyond earning some fast money by involving and influencing contract work,” he said.

Deben Sharma is happy with the progress this year but realises that there is a long way to go to make any difference. “Critical issues like Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and electricity are back in the election manifestos of the parties. But we cannot really trust the parties to act on them. So, we have set a target of three elections for us. We will continue our work of letting people know what they deserve and campaign for the issues,” he said.

Other issues based networks like Manipur Alliance for Child Rights (MACR), Women in Governance (WinG), Human Rights Alert have also joined hands with the campaign. A few political consultations were organised, inviting leaders of political parties for interactions on public issues.

Nonibala Narengbam who works with Women in Governance is thrilled with the potential of the campaign.

“I think this is the first such initiative in Manipur to make the political parties accountable. We have put forward our charter of demands which includes a governance policy, gender policy and a child policy from the next government,” she said.

Narengbam is unhappy about the gender ratio in Manipur politics.

“Contrary to popular perception, women are not really well represented in Manipur politics. All the parties talk about 33 per cent reservation for women in the Assembly but when it comes to projecting candidates, the figures show abysmal disparity. This time we have only 16 women candidates from all parties put together. These concerns must be put forward so that the people ask for more,” she said.

“We are hoping at least a few good leaders are elected this time who can set an example for the generations to come otherwise Manipur will be left at a point of no return,” Radhakrishna Sharma summed up.