By Patricia Mukhim
After voting for so many years one realizes that elections are simply a mundane exercise for fulfilling a constitutional mandate by the Election Commission of India and nothing beyond that. As is evident, the ECI has pulled all the stops to ensure (a) maximum voter turn-out (b) that to the extent possible, elections are held in a free and fair manner so that the ECI does not have to get into the nuisance of a court case filed by some candidate or the other against a rival or rivals. If elections here work to clock-like precision, those in charge of elections in Meghalaya will carry home a trophy to be displayed in their respective offices. The ECI is not bothered about what sort of candidates contest or win elections. Their brief is not about quality election but quantity in terms of voters. To that extent the ECI has failed the electorate of India and become more of a self serving organization. So what do we have after February 28? Yet another hotch-potch coalition government which will not even bother to sit and work out a common minimum program me!
Conrad Sangma of the NPP is optimistic that his Party would bring at least 12-13 MLAs to the next Assembly. Youth and optimism are like two sides of the coin. So Conrad can be forgiven for his joie de vivre. But hardcore political analysts are of the view that the NPP would be lucky to get 6 MLAs. Well, poll pundits can have their say and politicians can differ. There is nothing wrong in pushing points and counter-points as long as there is no malice. Conrad Sangma remarked that things have been made much easier for the NPP because the Congress has shot itself in the foot by mismanaging the ticket allocation. This is what most discerning people feel. It remains to be seen how far off the mark or how well on target the great personalities manning the Congress party in Meghalaya have been this time in terms of ticket allocation and whether the alleged in-fighting in the party will take its toll on the over-all performance of the Party.
Elections evoke unrestrained emotions in Meghalaya. Emotion is the antithesis of logic. We are known as a people who think with their hearts. Emotions get the better of good sense even when it comes to taking far-reaching decisions within the family. This unfortunately extends to the political domain as well. And politicians are great mind readers. They feed into the fear, frenzy and emotions of people and whip up emotive issues even if those could scar the fragile communal fabric of Meghalaya. For politicians, the bottom-line is ‘winning’ no matter how many people get hurt as a result of their vicious campaigns. And the campaigns to day have turned to bitching about personal lives of candidates.
Elections have also provoked many to tap away at their keyboards and send in letters and articles to newspapers. Quite a few have come up with thought provoking write-ups and many more have shared their concerns on the manner in which elections happen in our State as well as the political instability that hounds or haunts us like a bad dream. Of particular interest are the letters to the editor which are satirical and funny at times. There have, of course, been letters aimed at maligning a particular candidate or to blow the trumpet on behalf of another. Such letters come via email and the writers do not disclose their names or contact numbers, nor do they use their own emails. This despite the rider that letter writers must give their full name, address and contact details. It’s easy to detect such letters because when you reply to the writer’s email, the mail bounces. So email IDs are created only for the purpose of launching scathing attacks on political rivals. People have time even for such trivia during the election season..
Now coming to the point about elections and the media, this surely is a juncture in history where media not just informs and educates but also dramatizes. While the local media have learnt to go with the flow so far as elections are concerned (we have seen too many elections come and go with nothing spectacular thereafter), members of the national and international print and electronic media, online news portals etc., have landed in Shillong in droves to feast on what makes news here during this election. I got a call on Thursday morning from a Delhi-based journalist working with the Wall Street Journal. He enquired about the core issues on which elections are fought in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. I told him I have only a passing idea of the issues in Nagaland and Tripura from having visited the states a couple of weeks ago but I could tell him for sure that in Meghalaya this election is not issue-based. In Meghalaya issues only matter to the intelligentsia for whom it is a talking point. And there is a huge disconnect between the thinking class and the doing class.
There are either too many issues to tackle or politicians have decided it is better to take up local issues because it pays richer dividends. I told the journo that no candidate has said anything about the toxic rivers in Jaintia Hills, the devastation through mining and the rapid loss of forest cover. No one has a word to say about a dynamic youth policy except to promise jobs, as if jobs would fall out of the heavens at their command. No one has anything to say about the health of the population of Meghalaya and yet research shows that most people dip below poverty line because they have to mortgage their home, their land and other assets to meet a health exigency.
Those who have arrived in Shillong to cover the election tamasha are well briefed about the political instability factor, the environmental holocaust waiting to happen, the expected coalition regime in Meghalaya, the swift change of chief ministers and governments and the fact that so few women are in the fray and even fewer getting elected. Hence political instability and corruption are our badges of dishonour and news hacks are hard-boiled cynics. Some feel its worthwhile to go beyond the political into the social domain. After the tough political queries they come up with innocuous questions like, “Why is it that in a matrilineal society there are reports of rape cases every single day and domestic violence is on the rise.” “Why are so few women in politics?” Good question, but the answers defy the short, crisp, encapsulated sentences that journos so love to capture. Societies by definition are complex entities and journalists looking for a good story have no patience to go beyond the headlines. This short-circuiting of a process gives them half-truths and blurred realities.
The political journalists are a different breed and creed. After spending quality time with some of our local scribes they know that government formation here has nothing to do with delivery of goods and services. The State, the people, development and blah…blah and blah are all lines out of a well rehearsed script that should be taken with a large dose of salt. Who cares about development? If they did, politicians would have had a public exercise charting out a holistic course of development with the willingness to abandon such paradigms which are detrimental to the future of the State. But if that were the case we would not have had coal merchants doing politics. Nor would other business honchos have invested in elections as they are doing now. The reason why businessmen and women join politics is to influence policies that benefit their businesses. Otherwise why would a former dealer in pharmaceuticals now turned car merchant want to dabble in “public service.” Why would someone who has a call bell in their bedrooms and can summon servants galore suddenly decide they want to “serve?” They must be out of their minds. And if we believe their cock and bull about wanting to serve people because now they have too much money and don’t need to earn more, we too must be deranged.
Now coming back to my first point about emotions, these last few days we have been hearing lilting political music with wonderful lyrics set to tune by some renowned musicians of the city. Our people love music and the way to their hearts whether in urban or rural Meghalaya is through songs and captivating lyrics which speak of governance (synshar khadar), of patriotism ( ieid ri, ieid jaidbynriew) of lifting the state to new heights (ban kyntiew ia ka ri bad ka jaidbynriew) of economic progress (ban kyntiew ia ka ioh ka kot) etc., all in songs that resonate with our emotions. So if you have a counter-point you have to do it with a song.
So this is the sum and substance of elections in Meghalaya! Those who expect any earth-shattering outcome are either camp followers or die-hard morons and supporters of political parties who have been paid to be their masters’ voices. Am I cynical? What else can you be after seeing the ground beneath your feet slowly sinking into nothingness? This is one time when ‘hope does not spring eternal in the human breast’.
Parting shot: Last heard, the independent candidates of Garo Hills have formed a forum. They are sure to call the shots in forming the next government. So we can imagine how rough the political weather will be post Feb 28. Long live Meghalaya!