By Patricia Mukhim
The recent verbal brawl between two leading women activists over custodianship of a civil society organisation is lamentable. Both ladies were erstwhile colleagues and did much to address the problems of destitute women. All was going well until one of them decided to contest the 2008 elections. Then the baton was handed over to the second in command. None of us are privy to the arrangements between the two ladies. We are not aware for instance if Agnes Kharshiing who took over the Civil Society Women’s Organisation (CSWO) would be a stop gap arrangement until it became clear whether Irene Hujon would win the elections and leave the organisation in the hands of Kharshiing. Or whether Hujon would assume her former leadership position should she fail to make it to the legislature. All these are internal matters of the organisation and it is not our brief to comment on the fracas as long as the trading of charges happens in-house.
But things have now spiralled to a feverish pitch with one or the other party holding press conferences to trade charges against each other publicly. Never has any organisation landed itself into such a muddle over leadership. One dare not even venture a guess as to why the leadership position of CSWO is so important. Is it because the organisation is powerful and by association anyone heading it also enjoys the aura of power? Is the organisation flushed with funds and hence the zeal by both women to gain control of the top job? We don’t really know how and where the plethora of organisations floating in Meghalaya, derive their incomes from and we are too decent a society to ask. So everything remains in the realm of assumptions. That being the case we don’t even know how members remain mobile and carry out their work pro-bono. Don’t they have to earn their livelihoods? What is the source of income of the organisational heads that gives them financial freedom to pursue their altruistic goals? Unless of course they are AMWAY down-line or up-line sales persons, which I doubt very much because that too is quite a full time occupation!
Now some may think the above conjectures absurd. But they are real concerns. Like they say money is the root of all evils. The unfortunate part is that we all need money to keep body and soul together. Some, more than others, are in perennial need of cash to keep up with the affluent Joneses (Lyngdohs among the Khasis and with apologies to poor Lyngdohs). The ends and means philosophy of Gandhi are good to hang in our living rooms but do not make sense in a world where everyone is out to grab the goods. Sometimes holding the leadership of a civil society wins you a lot of goodwill among power brokers, politicians and the stinking rich coal mafia of our well-endowed coal belts.
Let me now get back to the point of this article. In 2009 several leading pressure groups converged under SCAMOD to demand a probe into the infamous jailbreak where Fullmoon Dhar, a serial offender who always managed to slip out of the police dragnet, escaped with his confreres. CSWO was part of SCAMOD and Agnes Kharshiing played a lead role in attending all the hearings that took place after the enquiry commission was agreed to by the Government at the time. SCAMOD demanded that those responsible for the jailbreak including those who bribed the jail staff and others who connived at the higher levels should be arrested and questioned. Thomas Nongtdu, a coal baron who joined the Congress party like every other coal baron does, was for some reason arrested for questioning in this case. But Congress party higher ups put so much pressure on the cops that they had to release the money-bag.
Hence it is baffling for most of us that Agnes Kharshiing should take a 360 degree turn and certify that Thomas Nongtdu is actually as clean as an altar boy and deserves our sympathy and hers because he is not a lettered guy. But do you need to be educated to run the coal business? Or to be a land-grabber? How many of the coal barons are actually educated? But all of them know the colour of money. They know how to get it and who to use to get maximum leverage from the black diamond. So I do not buy Kharshiing’s argument that Thomas Nongtdu needs our compassion, unless he turns approver and gives us a list of the who’s who in this State who have used Fullmoon Dhar in their nefarious adventures in coal kingdom. But if Thomas Nongtdu turns approver then would not some of the top shots in the police too land up in prison? After all Fullmoon was eliminated by the police even when there was no sign of any scuffle between him and the uniformed guys.
Now let me get things in perspective. Agnes Kharshiing has in recent times made damaging charges (not allegations) against the Union Minister for Water Resources, Vincent Pala. Some of us have been sued for defamation for the most innocuous reasons. Ask me. (I am currently answering several defamation charges even for letters to the editor and well-intentioned articles written by conscientious priests). Ms Kharshiing has accused the Hon’ble Pala of circulating fake currency in Meghalaya which he has brought via Siliguri. She also charged Pala with sending Fullmoon Dhar for training in the NSCN (IM or K? We don’t know) camp. Both charges are serious enough to warrant Pala’s arrest as both are anti-national acts. And if Pala is sending Fullmoon Dhar to the NSCN then it means he has a working relationship with that organisation. So why is Mr Pala silent? Is he ignoring the charges as the ravings of a hyper-active mind? In 2010 Pala had met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram asking him to intervene in an extortion case where he was the victim. The NSCN(IM) has apparently demanded money from Pala. Chidambaram intervened and the extortion as far as we know has stopped.
I have stated this in the past and reiterate unabashedly that Kharshiing is a detective par excellence. Not even the most nosy spook or investigative scribe can smell crime and muck as she does. For this alone she deserves credit. But can she do it alone? Doesn’t even Scotland Yard work through chains of informers? It’s a pre-requisite to fish out crime from murky pools? So who are Kharshiing’s informers and networks? Some believe she has important sources in the police who are also into the coal trade and who are using her to get at their rivals. I used to be astounded with the breadth of information that the lady has as ammunition. Anyone with as much information as Kharshiing had would have been a black-mailer. She could actually write several true detective serials.
What confounds me is why Kharshiing by her own admission took money from Thomas Nongtdu. Is Nongtdu a philanthropist? If not he must be paying money to get something in return. So what service is Kharshiing rendering to the coal baron, in return for the money he gives her? These are very serious questions and I am not asking them to embarrass anyone. There is a fine line between social service rendered pro-bono and service provided on payment. The two cannot co-exist. If an activist is also an employed person, it is understandable. But if an activist cannot tell us his/her known sources of income then the person could be up for sale to the highest bidder and take up issues that are dictated by the price.
This is a not an empty charge. I think it is important for all those who itch to step out into the world of social activism a la Anna Hazare to also ensure that they do not have other agenda of making a quick buck or climbing the slippery political ladder. You are either an activist or a politician. In Meghalaya we have been encouraging people to take the circuitous (hypocritical) route from social service to politics. It’s the road to perdition.