By Patricia Mukhim
There is a sense of jubilation in Congress camps as word spread that Rahul Gandhi the heir apparent has in a very subtle way agreed to take on the mantle of leadership that he had been hedging from for a long time. The Congress is desperate. There is a lot of lost ground to cover. The double tenure of the UPA at the centre has all but stunted the Party’s growth. Congress party workers and failed MLAs have become self seeking contractors (especially in Meghalaya), or just want to hold offices of profit (chairmanship etc) with the entire paraphernalia of power (red beacons) and fancy designations (advisor to the chief minister, as if Dr Mukul Sangma is bereft of wisdom). All of them are being paid out of the public exchequer and not from Congress party coffers. If there is one thing that the recent Delhi election result has taught is that people are disgusted with this incessant leaching on to the system by Congress party hangers-on.
Indeed the ordinary citizen wonders at this shameless attempt by Congress party workers to hanker after every post under the system, including those they are unfit and incompetent to hold. Look at the Meghalaya Public Service Commission (MPSC). It has been headless for a while because the Government has already defined in its head the person it is looking for. By the Government’s definition that person has to be a weak-kneed conformist (some spineless bureaucrat or Congress party acolyte). The MPSC is an important body and should ordinarily be headed by someone we can look up to and respect. Don’t we have such persons in Meghalaya? Of course we do, but governments treat them with contempt. Governments don’t want to use their services because they may not be pliable and conform to the plying of ruling party politicians to appoint their sons/daughters, grand-children, nieces, nephews or their dominant supporters.
The Congress Party has been singularly responsible for perpetuating a culture of sycophancy and entitlements. Those who are closest to the power centre get to enjoy the goodies of office. Just take a look at the contribution of the Congress party workers in Meghalaya. Look at the list of contractors and holders of important offices (State Planning Board, Resource Mobilisation, Economic Development Council, Law Commission, Meghalaya Tourism Development Corporation, Meghalaya Government Construction Corporation etc….). They are all so-called members or supporters of the Congress Party. No meritorious person is allowed to hold any post. The penchant of its members to feather their own nests at the cost of the public exchequer is legendary. Do we wonder then why people should despise this Party? Congress governments in Meghalaya have turned each of the important offices created for the development of the State into one that can accommodate a defeated MLA, or an elected MLA who is not a minister. If the Congress wants to accommodate those of its members who have lost the election, let it do so from the Party’s own coffers and not from the public treasury.
The problem is that we as responsible citizens have never sought accountability from these Congressmen and women who hold responsible positions. It is time now for citizens to do a stock- taking and find out how much has been expended by the Government in the last ten years to pay all those who hold posts that have yielded nothing for the public good. This might be quite revealing and it would also tell us why Meghalaya has no future if this culture of feeding leaches from the blood of the citizenry is not stopped forthwith. We all know the problem with the Congress Party at the Centre. We know the huge scams that the Party has allowed to happen under its very nose on the pathetic alibi that the Telecom Scam for instance is a coalition compulsion. Are we to understand that all kinds of criminal activities should be allowed just to keep a Government that has lost both its imagination and its legitimacy, afloat? The pathetic litany of excuses given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the recent press conference ( only the third in ten years of UPA rule and see how someone like Obama briefs the media on all important national issues) is an eye opener.Should we condone all those foreign and financial policy errors? In the tenure of the UPA, India lost its place in the comity of nations. India remained silent when whistle blower Snowden told us and the world that the US is spying on all of us, especially our top political leaders, our military, marines, air force et al. The US of course spies on all countries large or small. The difference is that those countries have stood up to the US and told it in no uncertain terms to stop those dirty tricks. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff even cancelled her visit to the US and has now rejected a $ 4.5 billion contract for Boeings F-18 fighter jets. India never demurred. It pretended as if its national integrity was not violated. India behaved like the US’s doormat. Where is our national pride? If we don’t have even that then what do we have left? India’s knee-jerk reaction to the US treatment of Khobragade came from foreign office mandarins only because this is a class that protects its own, no matter what.
We in Meghalaya cannot be blind to the list of failures of the UPA Government. The Meghalaya Congress is not a stand-alone Party. It is a Party with a high command culture and the bastion of dynasty. Since the Congress Party is not a democracy, so the manner in which its governments are run in the states it rules are also undemocratic. That is why we have a well-entrenched network and nexus of nepotism and corruption that seems difficult to dismantle. There is frustration amongst the youth as they see merit being of no consequence while only ‘sifarish’ (patronage) works at all levels. You have to know someone in the hierarchy of power to get a job you deserve. If you don’t know anyone who can pull strings, your merit is trashed. It is this frustration at how governments have been run all these years; the knowledge that those in power only can make money and mansions; that only those in power have the last word – which has spawned the movement against influx. If anyone goes to the heart of the protest they will realise that the pressure groups are hitting out at a system they see as a gigantic monolith that has long ceased to connect with the people, least of all to feel their pain.
We are approaching the Lok Sabha elections. This time the elections are crucial. If the Congress Party proceeds with its “business as usual” attitude in Meghalaya and continues to defend its actions and to pamper its members at the cost of effective governance, there will be strong public reaction here as well. Rahul G, I am sure knows the character of his party workers only too well. They are only visible when Union Ministers and other Congress personalities visit Meghalaya. When the Government is in s….t they are nowhere to be seen. They cannot even organise public rallies against unscheduled bandhs. They are invisible when the Government needs them. We don’t see their counterpoint to the Inner Line Permit demand. But that is no surprise since the Congress party in Meghalaya does not even believe in a think-tank. It is the Chief Minister alone who is the repository of wisdom. These days one does not even hear of the MPCC chief? Is he hibernating or what? In a State with a huge youth population how can the Congress Party afford to have an octogenarian at the helm? As I have said earlier in these columns the demographic dividend will turn into a demographic liability for Meghalaya if we allow the same political culture to continue. Change is good for the polity. Either the Congress has to change or the people must change their loyalties, Rahul G or no Rahul G.