If only decisions on crucial matters affecting the life and health of citizens were taken as quickly and as hurriedly as the one for implementing the Inner Line Permit (ILP) was, Meghalaya would have outdone most other states in this country in terms of progress. Alas! The recent decision to fall in line with populist views without as much as a careful study only goes to show how utterly spineless the government is. The decision to implement the ILP after just two meetings is deplorable to say the least. Aren’t such important decisions affecting the entire future of Meghalaya supposed to be debated and discussed in the Assembly? Are we to assume that what so-called NGOs want is the best for this State? Then why have elected representatives? Is this not one way of de-legitimising the constitutional framework?
The perspicacious Robert Vadra of DLF fame has rightly labeled us as the mango people in a banana republic. In Meghalaya we are a shade worse because some groups with a following of not more than a few hundred members have usurped the right to speak for thirty million people. Is this acceptable? In a democracy there should be space for myriad voices and even the weak have the right to speak. And the voice of the majority is not necessarily the voice of God. That’s not how democracy works. Meghalaya does not even have a think tank to fall back on. The government should have drawn on the resources of the only central university here which is meant to conduct research and provide inputs on such critical matters. We cannot leave the running of governments to NGOs can we? But isn’t that what is really happening? Increasingly we see bulldozing tactics working better than informed discussions. At this rate Meghalaya seems headed for the dumps! What’s the point in having a chief minister who waxes eloquent on multifarious issues but does not have the gumption to debunk a bad idea?
