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Why is Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh not in station? What is he trying to avoid here in Imphal? And what is so important about the Australia trip? These questions had been on the lips of everyone here in Imphal. IFP had raised three possible reasons in our earlier editorial. One of the reasons leaked in certain circles and the media is that the Chief Minister Ibobi Singh is under tremendous pressure from the central leadership to accept the proposal of Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde with regard to the ‘solution’ of the vexed Naga problem and that he might ultimately be coerced to accept it. Some had even drawn a parallel to the situation Maharaj Bodhachandra was once caught in 1949 when he was forced to sign the merger agreement. They say, his position as the Chief Minister is at stake, if he does not agree to the proposal of the centre. Some others say, his health condition is deteriorating and the tremendous pressure that he is facing these days is already taking a toll on him. What do these snippets of information provoked in us or among the general public? Anger and sympathy. Anger towards those giving ‘undue’ pressure to Okram Ibobi Singh and sympathy for him and his condition. Yet, a question or a doubt lingers in our mind. Who benefits from such emotions of anger and sympathy? Were the bits of information leaked so as to generate such feelings of emotion among the general public? Some of us were indeed blinded by these emotions and we are not raising questions which should be raised. Firstly, the issue of how a responsible leader should act in times of crisis. After being summoned by Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde twice in New Delhi, Chief Minister Ibobi Singh had been mumbling about the lack of proposals in written. On the other hand he refuses to spell out what were the proposals raised by Shinde and what was his response. There are enough media reports to suggest the possible outcomes of the peace talks between NSCN-IM and the government of India. Shinde must have at least conveyed some concrete proposals to him verbally. Why is Okram Ibobi reluctant to inform the Manipur public? What is he trying to hide? It is so unusual of a person who had chosen to lift AFSPA from Imphal Municipal Area and stop NSCN-IM supremo Thuingaleng Muivah in his tracks despite pressure otherwise from the central leadership. Somehow the firm conviction and resolution in defence of the territorial integrity of the state seems to have gone from his utterances and action. Has he lost his moral standing to be able to resist pressures of the party high command in the interests of the state? Is it because of the Rs 224 crore Loktak Lake scam which had surfaced in recent times? Okram Ibobi Singh, who is also the Chairman of the Loktak Development Authority had chosen to remain silent on the Loktak expose, on which serious questions had been raised of his involvement. Instead, he chose to undertake a pleasure trip to Australia, in the guise of some conference which are dime a dozen for a Chief Minister. He could have cancelled that trip. He did not. This is not expected from a Chief Minister who said recently that he is even prepared to law down his life in the interests of Manipur.
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