Manipur - Government
Manipur comprises 16 districts—ten of which are in the hill regions of the state and six in the valley. Of its 60 constituencies, 40 are in the valley districts, and the remaining in the hill districts. The hill districts are dominated by two of the state’s tribal communities — the Nagas and the Kukis — whereas the Meitei community dominates the valley districts.
Having a varied and proud history from the earliest times, Manipur came under the British Rule as a Princely State after the defeat in the Anglo-Manipuri War of 1891. After independence of India in 1947, the Princely State of Manipur was merged in the Indian Union on October 15,1949 and became a full-fledged State of India on the 21th January, 1972 with a Legislative Assembly of 60 seats of which 20 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe and 1 reserved for Scheduled Caste. The State is represented in the Lok Sabha by two members and by one member in the Rajya Sabha.
Manipur's politics has been full of conspiracies, crises, disloyalties and defections. In 1977, the Shaija Ministry was created out of defections from the Congress(I). Mr. Shaija was deposed by Mr. R. K. Dorendra Singh in 1980. From 1980 to 1985, Mr. Rishang Keishang completed a full Ministerial term; but was deposed on his return to power by Mr. R. K. Jaichandra Singh who in turn was deposed by Mr. Dorendra Singh in 1992. President's Rule followed. A suspended Assembly enabled Mr. Keishing to return to power in 1994, to win again at the polls in 1995. But, wholly violating the neutrality of the Speaker, Mr. W. Nipamacha Singh, became Chief Minister by inducing the defections of 24 of the 39 Congress(I) MLAs. He was also returned to power by weaning away Opposition politicians to form the Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) and Government.
Manipur had been under President's Rule as a Union Territory in 1967-68 and again from 1969. No sooner was it born, it was placed under President's Rule from January 21 to March 20, 1972. One year later, President's Rule was imposed on March 28, 1973, even though, as the Sarkaria Commission (1988) put it, the Opposition had a ``tenuous majority''. Those were the heady days when Indira Gandhi's Government ruthlessly invoked President's Rule to destroy Governments of her opponents. In 1977, President's Rule was imposed because Congress(I) legislators joined the new Janata Party; and it appeared that no one was prepared to form a Government. In 1977, President's Rule was imposed on 10 States and one Union territory, with judicial immunity from the Supreme Court in the somewhat equivocal, even confusing, judgment of the Supreme Court in the Rajasthan case (1977). Manipur was not to be spared. In 1979- 80, Manipur was again placed under President's Rule and its Assembly dissolved. No sooner was this over, President's Rule was again imposed in 1981, when the Assembly was placed under suspended animation to permit political machinations. The same game was played in January 1992; and again, on December 31, 1993.
Between November 2000 and February 2001, the Congress(I) was crippled by defections. A new Samata Party-led Government was born under Mr. Radhabinod Koijam. But in May 2001, the new Speaker forced a further defection to form the Progressive MSCP. Then, Mr. Dorendra Singh entered the fray to enable 18 MSCP legislators to join the existing BJP members to create a powerful block called the Progressive Democratic Alliance. The fate of Mr. Koijam's Ministry was sealed. Oddly enough, this was at the hands of its own BJP allies who voted him out of power on May 21, 2001, by 39 votes to 17 in a 60-member Assembly, with one seat vacant.
On June 2, 2001, President's Rule was imposed on that State. On that day, democratic governance in that State died. The power to impose President's Rule on a State through Article 356 of the Constitution is an awesome and arbitrary power. With its use, local democracy disappears. Federalism is collapsed. The State becomes a political fiefdom of the Union. Between 1950 and 2001 President's Rule has been imposed on various States and Union Territories on around 100 occasions - mostly for opportunistic reasons. The imposition of President's Rule on Manipur is one of the worst examples of such an imposition.
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