The waxing of promises eloquent by the Chief Minister on Independence Day would have sounded a wee bit more re-assuring had public memory been crippled by some strain of viruses as in the case of networked computers. It was all the more less re-assuring as the tall promises were preceded by the revealing public remarks of a cabinet insider, the Food and Civil Supplies Minister himself, about the concentration of all developmental works in the state within the constituencies of the CM and his legislator wife.

The CM is no longer just a member of the state assembly representing the people of the constituency he was elected from. On taking the oath of office of the Chief Minister, he was anointed in and by the constitution to represent and work for the entire state and all its citizens. It is a matter of great impropriety that the development of the CMís constituency should precede, nay, is at the cost of, the development of the rest of the state, and that the state machinery should be used so selectively. The common man would have more faith in the government had promises of equivalent autonomy to tribal autonomous district councils been taken care of prior to the forcible imposition of ADC elections under a crippled Act on the tribal districts, against the general will of the tribals. The two tribal communities of the state, the Kuki and Naga people, would find it more re-assuring if promise of equivalence in autonomy with sixth schedule areas were simplified to a promise of implementing the provisions of the sixth schedule to the Indian constitution in the tribal districts of the state without any "adjustments" whatsoever.

The promise of railway links into the Capital, Imphal, sounds promising alright; only the promise has remained just that for too long now. Interestingly enough, despite the un-ignorable public perception, nay knowledge, of the widespread prevalence of corruption in the state, the CM was totally mute on the subject. This silence registers higher decibels to the discerning public than the tall promises read aloud during the CMís address, delivered from the elaborately decorated podium under the fluttering tri-color.

Looking at the bright side of it, there can be some hope derived from the CM's speech not even hinting at tackling corruption. That is, if we are to presume that he was being honest and did not want to promise what he did not mean to, or perhaps cannot, deliver. Some solace to live by, but the drowning common man have to perforce grab the proverbial last straw, and whether that saves him or not will be another chapter of another story.

Talking of last straws, the sincerity of the government on granting the ADCs adequate autonomy to enable
them to protect tribal land and interests, and develop tribal people to their satisfaction might just be that last
straw for preserving the stateís integrity, territorial or otherwise. The recent re-alignment of tribal militant
forces is a significant development hinting at the crystallization of fragmented forces of dissent against perceived political atrocities on tribals in the state. The government should take cue from such developments
and proactively work towards preventing a sort of grand tribal alliance to denounce the dominion treatment meted out to tribal districts by the state government. The Cm may then continue to be the smooth that he has been in the rumble and tumble of politics in Manipur.