By Patricia Mukhim
As someone who roams around the city daily, one meets with eclectic groups of people. Their views are as interesting as they are wacky. Some speak with knowledge and conviction; others mix a bit of truth with gossip in their anxiety to hold your attention. But if we can wisely sift fact from fiction it makes for interesting stories that give us a hint of the present impasse in Meghalaya. Can we safely venture to say that there is no politics behind the ILP demand? Is the timing of the demand and the series of agitations innocent and altruistic? Doubtful! Another round of elections is knocking at our doors. One is the election to the three district councils sometime in Feb-March 2014, which means electing 90 councillors. Another is the MP election happening sometime in May next year. Our otherwise very garrulous MP, Vincent Pala has suddenly gone mute after the 2013 state assembly elections. His activities during that election could not have gone unnoticed by the Congress High Command. So did he get a drubbing from Sonia G? We don’t know. About Ms Agatha Sangma too we hear nothing at all these days! Suffice it to say that our Rajya Sabha MP, Wansuk Syiem is a better representative of Meghalaya in Delhi. She is raising many crucial issues that affect the State and the region. More power to her!
Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma recently appointed over two scores of functionaries to different bodies and institutions meant to serve the interests of the State. Many of those appointed had lost the Assembly elections. Others are elected MLAs who have to be placated with these posts because not all 29 Congress legislators can be accommodated as ministers. Among the present group of legislators there are several who feel they have the intellect, the wisdom and the potential to lead the State. What they don’t have perhaps is the confidence of the High Command. It is difficult to establish one’s credentials before 10 Janpath. But once that is done the lady will back the incumbent to the hilt. I recall that Mr JD Rymbai was at one time a common choice of the Congress MLAs back home but not of 10 Janpath. The lady had, in a frozen voice that could send anyone scurrying for cover, simply told him, “Step down.” Period. Rymbai had to obey that diktat. That is Congress culture.
So the ambitious Congressmen and women here need to build a water-tight dossier with Madam G. She does not usually meet people, contrary to the claims of some of the leaders here. Mr Friday Lyngdoh was one person who had access to the lady. But that’s because he was the Party President and Sonia pays attention to the health and well-being of the Party. She considers leadership change in the Government as a needless pre-occupation and does not wish to indulge anyone with ambitions to pull down or push up someone. Deborah Marak, because of her being Working President of the Meghalaya Congress, also enjoys access to 10 Janpath. So does Wansuk Syiem, owing to her loyalty to the Party.
But the Congress MLAs here do not get this message. They have once again started their petty squabbles. Their body language suggests their unhappiness with the present Chief Minister. Many are murmuring outside the corridors of power that the CM is a one-man army, unwilling to share power or to take them into confidence. They say he takes decisions even about their departments without even informing them. One of them even observed that the CM wears a smirk on his face which is insulting to them. I wonder if this is a natural disposition of Dr Mukul Sangma or an expression of cynicism. It is a fact that the CM is in a hurry to show results but evidently his colleagues are not in the same page and do not believe in his clockwork. Probably the more elderly ones need their siesta and don’t have his stamina. The Education Department has been a laggard. Land that is supposed to be acquired for setting up some of the state initiated educational institutions is yet to happen. It almost seems like a deliberate design to make this Government appear like a lame-duck one. This affects all of us because if things don’t move the State stagnates and our young people miss out the opportunities that they could have got had infrastructure for different job-generating institutions been in place. Now with the series of agitations lined up even those who are gainfully employed in the tourism sector or have started tourism enterprises are going to become frustrated. Unlike the section of youth who revel in agitations and don’t really care about a job since they have some unexplained sources of income, there are other groups of self-respecting youth who want to earn through hard work and enterprise. It seems to me that today there are two types of youth in Meghalaya – the freeloading variety and the industrious ones. The latter have a stake in development and growth; the former thrive in conflict situations because that’s when they get to fish in troubled waters.
But let’s take a look at the section of youth which are card carrying members of the Congress party. What is their take on the inner Line Permit (ILP) Do they have a view on it or are they merely interested in its obverse the IPL with all its fun and frills? If the MUA-2 Government is averse to implementing the ILP and is considering other mechanisms, is the Meghalaya Youth Congress ready to stick its neck out and say so? Or are these people running with the hare and hunting with the hounds? Their silence on this issue is deafening. I recall that there was high drama a couple of years ago when Rahul Gandhi came to Meghalaya to enrol members to the National Students Union of India (NSUI) the student wing of the Congress. So much so, that even the otherwise sanctified space of a University (NEHU) was violated. NSUI flags fluttered all across the campus. What has happened to that youth brigade today? Are they in the Congress rolls? Or are they contractors too busy with running their business? And yes, what about the women’s wing? Why, even the parent party has not said a word on the ongoing imbroglio. Is it that the Congress leadership here has completely lost the plot? Or is there some other plot that is being hatched for a leadership change? The tragedy is that these ongoing family tussles in the Congress are spilling into the streets. It’s turning toxic and ordinary citizens are paying a heavy price.
At the national level there are Congress men and women who will come out and defend the prime minister on 3G, Coalgate etc. even when the Government’s actions are indefensible. Here there is no such thing. The Chief Minister is taking all the flak. It looks like there is no collective responsibility. Worse, it looks like the Party has abandoned him completely. And then there is some Youth Congress worker in Pynthorumkhrah, who is unsure what being a party worker means. He has joined the ILP jet set and is giving statements to the media supporting the ILP. So what is really happening inside the Congress party? Apart from confusing the citizenry, the Congress is confounding itself. This messy internal strife has got to end. People want clarity on the ILP issue. They want public debates where they can listen to multiple voices so that they can make an informed choice.
This debate has to begin with political parties. Since there is no agreement, let us hear why there is disagreement on the ILP issue!