Newsmaker: Okram Ibobi Singh

Loyalty pays

OKRAM IBOBI SINGH,
Chief Minister, Manipur

As Manipur burns, its chief minister, Okram Ibobi Singh, is in the eye of a storm. The issue at hand, of course, is the growing demand within the state to repeal the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives power without responsibility in the hands of the 'protectionist' Assam Rifles.

So, the people of the state are naturally up in arms against the conferment of such special powers and clearly want a repeal of the Act. Singh, on his part, has withdrawn the Act from Greater Imphal and adjoining municipalities, bowing to consensual wisdom.

But the very fact the Act is still in force in most of the state, makes Singh a mute witness to the diktats of the same party high command, which got him his chair in the spring of 2002.

As a reclusive Congressman, who lingered on to lubricate the defection-ridden Manipur Congress with his organisation skills, Singh was duly rewarded by the Congress high command.

You can call him a loyalist who got lucky for staying at the right place at the right time. In realpolitik, Singh is more didactic than dialectic.

Singh seems to have mastered the art of Darwinism. He has been holding on to the reins of government since the Secular Progressive Front "" a five-party post-poll alliance "" assumed power after the assembly elections in March 2002.

Be it managing intra-party defections or juggling portfolios to patch up a coalition of varying ethnicities and ideologies, Singh has ropewalked with finesse.

Today, the mood in Manipur, however, is defiant. And it has spilled onto the streets.

Singh's partial repeal of the Act is not seen as a penchant for going-it-alone. Instead, it seems to have the tacit approval of the Centre. Why? Well, such open rebellion could only have paved the way for Singh's ouster by the party high command that now heads the government at the Centre.

But the Centre has not effected a change in the leadership of Manipur, despite repeatedly making noises about it.

Singh may share his day of birth on July 19 with Impressionist painter Edgar Degas, but quite disappointingly, is still inching to make an impression.

He was born on July 19, 1948, in the state's Thoubal district, to a middle-class family from the Hindu Meitei community. After an Arts degree, Singh hit the political highway as an independent candidate from the Khangabok Assembly constituency in 1984-85. He won that election and the Congress took him in its folds.

Singh was re-elected from Khangabok in 1990 during the state elections on a Congress ticket, and became the minister in-charge of municipal administration, housing and urban development, in the Congress-led government of RK Dorendo.

Ibobi's rise within the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee MPCC (I) is attributed to his efforts at keeping the Congress from disappearing in the state, as other party colleagues were looking at the BJP and other regional parties during 1995.

Eventually, Singh was appointed the president of the MPCC (I) on December, 1999.

However, Manipur today, is different. And as the state's chief minister, Singh is certainly not on song.