A government derives its authority from one source only: the Constitution and the consent of the governed. When both are abandoned, what remains is not governance. What remains is lawlessness.
The fundamental question
Today the people of Manipur are asking a question that can no longer be ignored: When the Assembly does not meet, when the Cabinet cannot convene in physical session at Imphal, when Deputy Chief Minister Nemcha Kipgen is unheard and unseen in decision-making, when innocent civilians are kidnapped, butchered, looted on national highways, when even postal goods are burnt, and when village volunteers are killed, where is the state?
If the state is absent in crisis, and present only in force, then it has constitutionally and morally failed.
The constitutional, institutional breakdown
Logically and lawfully, a democratic government has three minimum duties: to deliberate, to decide, and to protect.
1. Deliberation has collapsed. Members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly have failed to hold regular sessions to frame policy, law, or decisions to address an unending crisis. A legislature that does not meet cannot represent the people.
2. Decision-making has collapsed. Reports indicate that even a mini cabinet under the present Chief Minister is unable to conduct normal physical meetings in the capital. When the executive cannot meet in Imphal, the seat of government, authority becomes fragmented and remote.
3. Protection has collapsed. On national highways, passengers are looted openly. Postal services are targeted and burnt. Innocent persons are kidnapped and killed. Village volunteers, who stand in the gap where the state is absent, are themselves targeted and killed.
Precisely and factually, this is the definition of a failed public order. When the government cannot guarantee life, property, and freedom of movement, it has forfeited its primary covenant with the people.
The moral, biblical standard
Scripture is uncompromising on leadership. “Rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.” A government that cannot distinguish between criminal and citizen, between volunteer and insurgent, between highway and warzone, becomes a terror to its own people.
Introspectively, leadership is stewardship, not ownership. Power is given to bind up the wounded, to give justice to the weak, and to keep the gates of the city. When those gates are open to looting and killing, silence from the highest offices is not neutrality. It is abdication.
Empathetically, we must name the cost: a mother who does not know if her son will return from the market. A driver who is looted in daylight. A village that buries its volunteers. This is not politics. This is grief.
The political, social consequence
Politically, an assembly that does not sit and a cabinet that cannot meet in Imphal sends one message to the people: decisions are being made elsewhere, by others, without you. That is how trust dies.
Socially, the vacuum is filled by fear. When the state is muted and inactive, people conclude that law has been replaced by the rule of the strongest. Highways become dangerous. Institutions like the postal service, a symbol of the Indian state’s presence in every village, are burnt with impunity.
Retrospectively from 2023 to 2026, Manipur has seen how quickly a society unravels when constitutional process stops. When dialogue stops, violence speaks. When law stops, rumors rule.
The final appeal
Therefore, this must be stated powerfully, critically, and patriotically:
1. Convene the Assembly. The people elected MLAs to debate, to legislate, and to be seen. The Assembly must meet immediately to address the crisis, pass relief measures, and restore public confidence.
2. Restore Cabinet Function. The Chief Minister and Council of Ministers, including Deputy CM Nemcha Kipgen, must hold regular, physical cabinet meetings in Imphal. Governance cannot be run by absence.
3. Enforce the Law Equally. Kidnapping, murder, looting on highways, and attacks on postal and civilian property must be investigated and prosecuted without exception. Village volunteers who are not criminals must not be treated as such.
4. Choose Constitution Over Chaos. A government that governs by press note and not by law will not survive. A society that lives by fear will not progress.
Wisely and prudently, history teaches us this: states do not fall because of external enemies first. They fall when internal covenant breaks first.
Manipur has a proud constitutional history. The people deserve leaders who are present, accountable, and courageous.
The highways must be safe. The Assembly must sit. The Cabinet must meet. The innocent must be protected.
Anything less is a betrayal of the oath, of the office, and of the people.
The Constitution is waiting. The people are watching.
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Michael Meiphami Shaiza is Co-incharge of BJP Manipur State Political Programmes and Meetings and President of Ukhrul-based NGO Ecological Rehabilitators’ Association (ERA).
(Views expressed are writers’ own and do not, in whatsoever manner, reflect that of Ukhrul Now)
