By Patricia Mukhim
The Inner Line Permit (ILP) debate appears to have strained our civic discourse, hopefully not to breaking point. Those who do not believe in its efficacy are now termed as the insignificant others whose voices and choices can be appropriated and consolidated. Alternatively they will be demonized as unpatriotic Khasi upstarts. But is this the right stance? Perhaps it is important to remind ourselves that we are no longer members of 25 Khasi Republics and 12 Doloiship (I will leave out the Garo historical discourse for now). Of course we value our indigeneity and our identity. I will always be called a Khasi. That is an inherent part of my identity but I am also Indian because some in my society rightly or wrongly signed the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union. Non-signing of the Instrument of Merger does not preclude us from full-fledged Indian citizenship.
In his article, ‘Prelude to Political Integration: Political Consciousness, Political Organisation and Development in Khasi-Jaintia Hills up to 1952, LS Gassah says, “They (Khasi chieftains) declined to sign the Instrument of Merger because they could not agree to cede to the Dominion of India’s exclusive jurisdiction of power and governance lest it destroys the roots of their customary democratic practices which vested ultimate authority upon the citizens of the state.” From the reading of Gassah’s narrative it appears that the Khasi chieftains later signed the Instrument of Accession unconditionally. JJM Nichols Roy negotiated for special provisions for administration of tribal areas vide the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
There are many sticking points to Gassah’s piece. He uses the words ‘destroys the roots of their customary democratic practices which vests ultimate authority upon the citizens of the state.’ Was the Khasi system of administration democratic? Does it actually vest ultimate authority upon the citizens of the state? Was there a notion of state as it is understood today? What were the key characteristics and the pillars on which that Khasi democracy as suggested by Gassah, rested? Oral tradition has the propensity to romanticise the past and unduly problematize the present. The best description of Khasi administrative system which is the rule by chieftains from a certain clan only is not a democracy but an oligarchy. The people have no role in the selection of the chieftain because it is all within the clan to decide who is next. The concept of an electoral college comprising of the Myntri and Bakhraw etc is a fairly recent adaptation.
Hence democracy as it is understood and practised today only came to these hills after 1950. The so-called lengthy discussions on issues that lasted for days together never really included the voiceless, the poor and the women. Those who had the leisure to stay away from work were the Bakhraw-Batri or the powerful people in the society. What they decided was meekly accepted by the rest, whether or not the decisions were in their interests. It is a wrong reading of history to rely on excerpts from British chronicles which said the British praised ‘Khasi democracy.’ An imperialist power, used to taking orders from the king/queen and interfacing probably for the first time with natives who allegedly spent days discussing weighty matters must have struck them as fascinating. But that is no certificate that the Khasi Dorbar or chieftainship system was or is a democracy.
In the light of the above argument therefore I wish to raise some fundamental issues. I am one of the several thousands of residents under the Nongthymmai constituency. We are represented by Dr Jemino Mawthoh, a scholar and a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP). Now that the UDP is fully supporting the ILP, does that mean that all the constituents of Nongthymmai who voted Mawthoh have wily- nilly endorsed the UDP’s stance vis-à-vis the ILP? This is a very surreptitious manner of co-opting the peoples’ voices without their informed consent. The UDP does not only constitute a few individuals who are party acolytes. Each of the MLAs from the UDP within Shillong city namely, Paul Lyngdoh, Jemino Mawthoh, Embhah Syiemlieh have to establish beyond doubt that they have the mandate of the people of their constituencies to support the ILP since this was not categorically mentioned in the UDP manifesto. The manifesto expressed concern about unabated influx. It never mentioned the modalities for addressing the issue. Before jumping on the ILP bus did the UDP MLAs have consultations within their constituencies? I know for a fact that Dr Mawthoh has not consulted us, his constituents yet on this issue. So what happens to our views? Who will hear them out? I refuse to believe that the MLA has unbridled right to represent me on all issues including those that will negatively impinge on our future generation. We were silent when the train project was shot down. Should we remain dumb driven cattle this time too?
Now if we look at the percentage of votes polled by each of these MLAs we can see that not all the constituents voted for them. Embhah Syiemlieh polled 49.93% of votes against his closest rival FS Cajee who polled 29.36 % of votes. Paul Lyngdoh polled 50.54% while his rival Mohendro Rapsang scored 47.93%. Jemino Mawthoh polled 44.95 % followed by Charles Pyngrope who got 39.48 % of the votes. All those who came second are Congress candidates. It would seem to any political observer that unless the ILP is voted in the Assembly it cannot be bulldozed on unsuspecting people no matter how noble the intent of its protagonists are. This would reflect true democracy. Indeed democracy would be in danger if the ILP were adopted without being discussed in the Assembly clause by clause and it merits and demerits analysed and then put to vote. The fall-outs of adopting the ILP for the long term would be far worse than the repercussions of not kowtowing to pressure groups now. While it is the duty of governments to provide security during bandhs etc., it finally rests with the people of Meghalaya to decide that they have had enough of such pressure tactics. No government can force the citizens to claim their rights. They have to decide for themselves and speak up. They have to look for platforms to air their differences with the much vaunted NGOs.
I had stated in an earlier article that Meghalaya does not have statesmen. It has produced too many petty politicians with puny minds and oversized egos. Also the fact that we elect leaders of pressure groups into the Assembly makes it difficult for us and for them. Our expectations from them are unclear. They have propagated certain views while outside the Assembly, more on populist lines. But having entered the politics and understood it from the inside, they are shy of admitting that their previous stances were premised on wrong assumptions driven by short term gains. They continue to nurture populist views and to take people along narrow parochial lanes, where the mind is always full of fear and the heart full of doubts, instead of being futuristic leaders of the people and not just of the Party they belong to.
There is a trend in this society to label those who have counterpoints as traitors to the jaitbynriew. Facebook has turned into a platform for noisy sabre rattling. It is strafed with abuse. This is because we are so unused to listening to dissenting voices nor to base our conclusions on reasoned arguments. Dissent is always seen as being impudent or disrespectful. In the rest of the world there is a premium on people who think differently. Here people will respect you only if you conform to the popular, mainstream, chauvinistic views. So pick what you want young people out there. This is your world. You conform and perish or innovate and become the best versions of yourself. No great idea was ever born from a conformist who dared not move out of the road much travelled.
It is important for us to hear what young Meghalaya thinks – that section of youth that does not belong to any of the frontline organisations demanding ILP or to the UDP, the Congress, HSPDP or to the HNLC. Speak up for now is the time!