By HH Mohrmen
2014 is a crucial year for Meghalaya because the people of the State have to take part in two elections; the general election to the country’s lower house of parliament and the election to the three autonomous district councils in the state. The election to the three autonomous district councils is very vital because the councils are institutions empowered by the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to protect and promote tribal culture and identity. Since the elections to all the three Autonomous District Councils precede the general elections, the result of the Councils’ election will also more or less indicate the direction the votes in the state will swing for the ensuing Lok Sabha election.
People of the State need to relook at the way these district councils’ have functioned. Have the councils been able to achieve the goals mandated by the Constitution? Have they been able to fulfill the aspiration of the people? Before the people of the state decide whom to elect to the district councils, they also need to gauge the performances of their respective representative or council by using these two yard sticks. One, what have these councils done to protect and promote tribal culture and identity? Two, what have they done to protect forests and rivers which again are subjects of the district council as mandated by the Sixth Schedule. Have the respective councils been able to protect trade in the areas under them? We also need to ask how many bills the respective district councils passed to promote and protect tribal rights, culture and identity. These are few questions that we need to ask before we decide to elect a new sets of MDCs in the ensuing elections. But the most important question is whether they even read the Sixth Schedule of the constitution? In Jaintia Hills some of the members can barely read so one wonders how they can perform their duties as elected representatives to the council when they don’t know the purpose for which they are elected.
People also have every right to question the motives of the Jaintia hills and Khasi hills district Councils’ or the Congress party as a whole with regard to the delimitation of constituencies. Not only was the process undemocratic and improper but even the manner in which the constituencies were created is haphazard. People also have the right to question the Department of District Council Affairs’ interest in pushing the delimitation bill for the Governor’s assent. Why is it so urgent to delimit the constituencies? Why is the delimitation bill more important than the 5 bills passed by the JHADC which are still pending in the DCA for years together? Obviously there is something more than what meets the eye in the entire process and we need to remember that the Congress party is in control of both these district councils. The entire development only goes to prove the Congress’ ulterior motive in the entire process of delimitation.
The other important question is the role of national parties in the district councils. Isn’t it true that we only have the national party particularly the Congress to blame for all the mess that is in the councils now? National parties were instituted on the ideology that every citizen of the country is equal. National parties promote the pan-Indian cultural and ethos, so it defeats the objective and the very purpose of the Sixth Schedule which is to protect the unique tribal identity of the people of the state. As a matter of fact national parties have no business in the district councils hence it is a Himalayan blunder to allow national parties to contest in the election to the district councils. Unlike regional parties which were established on the principle of protecting the rights and interests of the tribal people, the top agenda of the national parties is to protect national interest whereas for the regional parties the agenda is to protect regional interests.
In fact to enable the respective district councils to perform and to do justice to its mandate and to uphold the spirit of the Sixth Schedule, it is only fit and proper to have a party-less election to the district councils. The traditional institutions in the state like the eleka, the hima, the nokma and the dorbar shnong are party-less institutions hence it is right and appropriate that the councils in the state too should be run in a party-less manner.
The year 2014 is the election year for the state of Meghalaya because both the district council elections and the Lok Sabha elections are crucial especially in the present national scenario where the Congress party seems to be on the decline in many states. Each win is important for the Congress so the party cannot afford to lose even a single seat this year. The leaders of the party know very well that even if North East states only have few seats in the Lok Sabha, right now the region seems to be one of the very few where the Congress can still hope to win some seats. The tribal people still seem to be in favour of the Congress.
In Meghalaya, no matter how negative the media reports are against Vincent H Pala, the signs obviously indicate that Pala the sitting MP from the Shillong Parliamentary constituency will be the Congress candidate for the second time. It is also obvious that this time the fight will not be as easy as it was last time around because Pala has already hurt the sentiments of many Congressmen and women in the last election to the state assembly. These Congressmen and women have become Pala’s enemy from within.
The election to the district councils is crucial both for the Congress and the regional parties because they are like the semi finals in a football tournament. The final election will be the one to the Lok Sabha due in May 2014. The effort to forge a united regional front to contest against the Congress candidate in the next general election is going to suffer because the election to the district councils precedes the general elections. The regional parties are going to fight each other in the district council election so it is almost impossible to expect the regional parties to come together and unite few months after they have been at each other’s throat in the district council elections. The present arrangement also suits the Congress well because a disunited regional party will not only help the Congress win the election to the district councils, but a divided regional party is an advantage for the Congress in the elections to the Lok Sabha which will happen two months after the election to the district councils.
The situation right now is advantageous for the Congress be it in the forth coming district council elections or the general election. The Congress Party has done its homework very well and judging from the present scenario it looks like the Congress is in a position to win both the elections and obviously the ILP issue is not going to be able to help the regional parties win either the district council elections or the Lok Sabha one because unity among the regional parties is a distant dream and a divided regional party is always good for the Congress.