By Albert Thyrniang
“Hope doesn’t come from calculating whether the good news is winning … (or losing). It is simply a choice to take action,” says Anna Lappe. This could be applied to the just concluded presidential election. Keeping the complicated calculations aside we simply say Pranab Mukherjee won easily. He is now the 13th President of the country. The Rastrapati Bhavan is ready to welcome its new occupant. His rival, PA Sangma gave a good fight. Congratulations to both!
According to mathematical calculations it was clear from day one that the former Finance Minister would record a thumping victory. He said he believed in numbers. But the former Lok Sabha Speaker hoped/believed in a miracle. He hoped that the Electoral College would vote according to their conscience. He hoped that Mukherjee would be disqualified for ‘holding office of profit’. None of these worked! Now will he go to the Supreme Court over the ‘office of profit’ issue? Will the Apex Court dash his final hope?
PA Sangma knew that he would lose but he chose to contest. Why? Everybody knows the reasons. It was partly political and partly for dignity and for a cause. Enough previews had been done. No more repetition! Only a word: he dared to hope. Now the review! The election to the highest office reveals one thing: profit alone is not enough. You also need power and influence. Putting it bluntly Pranab Mukherjee won because of the influence of the most powerful person in this country. Being a Gandhi loyalist did the trick for him. Merit-wise there is little to choose between the two candidates.
That power and influence are factors that really matter is also true in all other elections in this country. Most of those who are elected to parliament, legislative assemblies and local bodies are not the most deserving ones. Money power plays a huge part. Appointments down to the bottom are decided by corruption and bribe. Corruption galore in every sphere of life – political, legal and even religious! Can we hope for a better society where merit alone counts?
Benjamin Franklin once said, “He that lives upon hope will die fasting.” What the multi-faceted personality who earned the title “The First American” for his campaign for colonial unity meant is that if we only hope and do nothing then that hope is of no use. A lot of us had hoped that the former Speaker of the Lower House would win the presidential election. We had hoped that he would be the first tribal from the North East (without any communal intent) would reside in the Rastrapati Bhavan for the next six years. It was hope against hope. But it simply did not work. This should wake us up. The hard lesson is that we have to work hard. Invoking the tribal card is not going to take us far. Seeking sympathy will not make us successful. Perhaps we should also rethink seriously whether we should continue with reservation and concessions.
Earlier I had defended PA Sangma for playing the tribal (and Christian) card on the basis that the elections to the president had always been an act of tokenism (including the present one). Political parties have been playing all kinds of cards and they will continue to do so. I had also stated that on merit Sangma qualifies to be the head of state. Now that he has lost, was he less qualified that Pranab Mukherjee? Was Mukherjee elected purely on merit? I think if we want to focus on merit we should change the mode of election. A direct election, for example, would be a better indicator. Even then region, religion, castes, race, influence and money power will still play a deciding role.
Barack Obama was certainly elected president of USA on merit. But the African-Americans voted with vengeance to ensure that he became the first Black president. The Whites too voted for him to show the world of the American equality. Earlier Hilary Clinton made a strong case for herself to become the first woman president of that country. A lot of Americans (men and women) rued that they missed to see a first woman president. I think it is fair to say that we are not ahead of the Americans. But we must strive to reach the American level where merit is above everything else. Miles to go but must keep on striving.
When PA Sangma was claiming for the top post in the country, the situation in Garo Hills was not so rosy. The recent incidents of kidnapping, extortions, killings, seem like we are in a dark tunnel. The future seems bleak! It must be worrying for the presidential candidate too. Reacting to the shooting at Lumdiengjri Police Station on 2nd July, 2012 and the subsequent dismissive response of the Superintendent of Police, Babet Sten in the article dated 4th July asked the distressing question, “Who are the Real ‘Bunch of Criminals”? The troubling question was asked repeatedly but the real answer is elusive – is still so. Till now we do not know who the ‘criminals’ are unless the police zero down on the real culprits? A similar question can be asked, ‘who are those involved in kidnapping, extortion and killing in Garo Hills’? Why they are doing so? As you guessed it, the answer is also similar. I must confess ‘I don’t know’. Worse, I cannot make an attempt to answer in Sten’s eloquent way. She/he at least gave us the clue. For me it is safer to go with a philosopher’s view that the easiest questions are the most difficult to answer.
The unrest/uneasy situation in Garo Hills is not just a law and order problem. It is a social as much as it is an economic one. Here the government has to be blamed. It has to do with social justice or rather the lack of it as Sten pointed out. Though extremist groups keep on reinventing themselves it is alarming that the government has not learned any lessons. Are these people dissatisfied with the present order of things – of corruption, of unemployment, of poverty, of lack of opportunity, of discrimination? Can I make the charge that the meritorious poor are left out while the rich, the influential and the powerful have their way through corrupt and unfair means? It happens even in the MPSC levels. At least there are regular allegations. In such a scenario what should the youth do? Take to arms perhaps!
How come a Deputy Inspector of Police quit the lucrative job and chose to live in the jungles? How come others with secured jobs chose to desert the police force? Is there discrimination or dissatisfaction at least in the force? The buck does not stop at the government’s desks. The blame is collective. We as a society have to share the blame. I might be doing a U-turn if I say that the answer to the questions I posed above are quite easy. They are our children, our pupils, our past pupils, our kith and kin and should I say, our church members. They are not far away from us. They are near/close to us. We as parents, teachers, educators and religious leaders have failed somewhere some time. Our family system has failed. Our educational system has failed. Our religious system has failed. We have failed as parents, teachers, educators and religious leaders. We have failed to imbibe correct values in our children, pupils and subjects. The education we impart is only bookish. It does not arm the students with skills for employment. It does not help them to cope with the challenges of life.
On 23rd February this year, while on a visit to Mendal, PA Sangma gave an inspiring speech to the students. I quote him thus: “If I, from a border village of Chahapati can make it to Delhi (MP, Minister, Speaker of Lok Sabha) all of you can.” Hope all of us feel inspired by the man who had the humblest of beginnings. Hope the ‘Gen-next’ feel inspired by the man who just missed to be the president of this country. Though he has lost, hope the veteran politician teaches us that there is no short cut to success. Hope we will work hard and be meritorious. But hope is not enough; we must also dare.