By HH Mohrmen
The two developments in the political arena of Meghalaya only show how seriously our leaders take the ideology of the parties that they are in and it even reflects on the kind of principles they set for themselves. Purno Agitok Sangma and Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit belong to the two generations of politicians in the state. One’s claim to fame is that of winning the Lok Sabha elections nine times from Tura parliamentary constituency and now looking for a respectable retirement package; the latter is a first time MLA from Nongkrem constituency filled to the brim with hopes and aspirations for bringing change to the community he represents. The two also have been differently baptised into politics. Arden’ts was a sort of baptism by fire when he catapulted himself from a leader of a youth movement to politics while Sangma had a an easy and natural transition from teaching to politics.
I do not share the argument that one is not supposed to canvass for the post of the president of the country, and that the president needs to be nominated by others and elected by consensus. Purno Sangma has set a new trend which I think is good for democracy in the country in that, a person aspiring to be the president should at least project himself/herself and even canvass for the post. If an independent candidate is elected to the highest office, he or she is not going to be at his party beck and call, but a real independent head of state. But the issue is about PA Sangma’s u-turn with regards to the ideology of the party he associated himself with throughout his political career. Since the beginning Purno had always associated himself with secular parties be it the Congress, the TMC or the NCP, and he kept that credential intact till the time he decided to join the fray to the office of the president of India. Of course we’ve seen media reports that Purno has his own arguments to justify his volte-face in taking the support of the BJP in the presidential election, that the Christian principle is to forgive even arch enemies and that there is no evidence to prove that the incidents of attacks on Christians have any connection with the BJP. True. I agree hundred percent with PA Sangma, but why did he wait till this present moment to make this statement?
I am no fan of rap music; I am more of a rock and country song follower, but my kids convinced me to listen to this new genre of music. One song that caught my attention and it is not because I like the song or because of anything else but because of the familiar hoarse voice in the prelude of the song. It is a B.O.B. number and the familiar voice was that of Hollywood movie star Morgan Freeman and the song is called bombs away. And I think the prelude and the postlude of the song which Morgan rendered his hoarse voice to says a lot. It says: “As the war between light and darkness continues/ Heroes and villain becomes harder to identify/Kindred spirit separated at birth/ Fighting for their place in the time to be solidified/The clock ticks faster and faster/While time runs a marathon in this Babylon/ But see, the end is only the beginning/ The beginning of the calm before the storm…/” and the postlude says: “As the mask of deception falls off the face of humanity/ Unveiling the grim reality of duality/ In which everyone is a casualty, no one will be exempt/ Truth has many shades/ It’s not a matter of black and white, but grey/ Although many, we are one, so in the final analysis/Could it be that we are fighting a war that can’t be won?” My humble opinion is that the prelude and the postlude of the song aptly describe the situation we are in.
And then the moment that people have waited for so long has finally arrived. Ardent Miller Bsaiawmoit has decided to open his mouth and reply to the queries the UDP has sent to him and the answer is yes, Basaiawmoit will contest on the party ticket but with few riders. He questions the merger of the UDP with the KHNAM as unconstitutional. However, Ardent’s biggest concern is the fact that the United Democratic Party is gradually jettisoning its ideology as a regional party and that the party is being seen as the Congress’s alter ego and now the leaders of the UDP conveniently blame everything on the coalition dharma.
What the leadership in the UDP does not realize is that Ardent Basaiawmoit is emerging as the man of the masses in the State particularly in the Khasi Jaintia hills. I, however, have my own reservations with the way Basaiawmoit takes up issues and I personally think he already has his plate full with too many issues. He started with the clean politics campaign which even has the support of religious leaders and now he is into the border dispute issue, but then this is just my opinion. The leadership in the UDP may not like it but Ardent is raising two pertinent questions, the general impression that the people have of the party is that there is nothing regional about it anymore except for the fact that it still claims to be one. UDP is the only party which continues to be in power throughout the 2008-2013 term of the current house of the legislative assembly, but what has the party done to prove of its regional credentials during the last four and half years?
Another important question that Ardent has raised is about KHNAM’s merger with UDP. The question is whether the merger of the two regional parties will help the UDP, or is the leadership falling into the plans of Paul Lyngdoh by giving undue importance to the erstwhile KHNAM President. I have my reasons to say so; and interestingly both Ardent and Paul underwent the same baptism to politics. Both were once youth leaders in their own right before they joined politics. But if we are to take into consideration the signs of the times, Ardent is probably ahead of Paul in the popularity graphs and I think it is not wrong to say that Paul is gradually losing his sheen. There are Facebook pages in almost any issue that the state is facing and one can see that there are praises for Ardent in the net. He is called the role model for the youths; He is even called the only honest politician and young people wish that many more like Ardent join politics. Paul Lyngdoh too has a Facebook account and I think he must also have seen this trend in the net. Ardent does not have an FB account. For Ardent as the saying goes; ‘so far so good,’ unlike Paul. (who is the working president of the party). Ardent has the freedom to pick only popular issues and he is smart enough to have the acumen to say the right thing at the right time. While Paul’s statement to support freight train was opposed by not only the anti-rail link group but even by the pro rail-link group, who question his ‘Johnny come lately wisdom.’
I am not trying to pitch the two giants of yesteryears (who each led their pressure groups) against each other, but I think the UDP is in a catch 22 situation. They want Ardent in the UDP fold because he is the only one who speaks sense and (as of now the only one who) has the mass support but then Ardent is also a tough nut to crack for the leaders. He is not the kind of leader who will succumb to pressure and he will certainly not be of help when a situation arises that the party will have to enter into a coalition government again.
(The writer is a researcher and an environmental activist)