By Patricia Mukhim
The Bible speaks of an unequal battle between Goliath, a Philistine giant who relied on his own physical prowess and David the Israeli shepherd boy – small built with sharp mental faculties and strong powers of observation. The Bible says David had implicit faith in God to lead him to victory against the Philistines. Goliath was protected by heavy armour from head to foot. David was dressed in his usual clothes. David noticed that the only vulnerable point where he could fatally hurt Goliath was his forehead. He used his sling to hurl a stone at the speed of sound right in the centre of Goliath’s forehead. That stone killed the giant as it hit him at the most vulnerable spot.
The battle for the Tura Lok Sabha seat bears some resemblance to this Biblical legend. The young Daryl Momin is a political greenhorn. His claim to fame is that he is the grandson of late Captain Williamson A Sangma. Most residents of Tura know very little about him except that he organised a concert featuring the Shillong Chamber Choir in Tura. But that is not a disqualification. Young people have to begin somewhere and if we adults begin to judge them on experience they will never make the first cut. Every young person has to cut his/her teeth at some point. Agatha Sangma too rode to power on the strength of her father’s charisma. But for Daryl aiming for the Lok Sabha seat does seem like an ambitious gambit. That is if Daryl were to fight it on his own merit. But he is not. We are all aware that Daryl Momin is the protégé of Dr Mukul Sangma. It was because he dug in his heels with the AICC that Zenith Sangma his own brother had to back off. No explanations were asked and none expected. After all, “It’s all in the family.” Perhaps Dr Sangma wants to prove a point. The point being that he too can slay a giant by putting up Daryl against his beta noire, the former Lok Sabha Speaker and a man with impressive credentials, Mr PA Sangma.
Mr PA Sangma has always considered Tura and its people as his kith and kin. He has always had implicit faith on them to vote him to power, no matter what party he skipped from and jumped into. For the most part the people of Tura have respected Sangma’s stature and given him the mandate to represent them repeatedly whether at the State Assembly or the Lok Sabha. The last time around, however, PA Sangma’s National Peoples’ Party (NPP), a political party formed ahead of the Presidential elections managed to win only two seats in the last Assembly polls (2013). Many wonder if PA Sangma would, like the proverbial magician, be able to hypnotise the voters yet again and pull out a dove from under his hat and win the Tura parliamentary seat. It’s a tough call but PA Sangma has a never say die attitude.
In the light of this David and Goliath battle I am reminded of Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book, “David & Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants.” In this book Gladwell pieces together stories of underdogs who made it in life by struggling against all odds and using their inventive minds to see the tiniest ray of light in a dark room and work their way forward. At the end of each chapter is an explanatory note. An analysis on David and Goliath by scholars says Goliath’s great size was due to acromegaly, secondary to a pituitary macroadenoma. This pituitary adenoma was apparently large enough to induce visual field deficits by its pressure on the optic chiasm which made Goliath unable to follow the young David as he circled him. The stone entered Goliath’s cranial vault through a markedly thinned frontal bone which resulted from enlargement of the frontal paranasal sinus, a frequent feature of acromegaly. The stone lodged in Goliaths enlarged pituitary and caused a pituitary haemorrhage, resulting in transtentorial herniation and death. All this is a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo but it makes sense to know the nitty gritty. The bottom-line is that the strongest person amongst us has his/her Achilles heel. In fighting a fair war it is important to find what the enemy’s Achilles heel is.
Let me come back to the David and Goliath scenario in a modern setting. What are PA Sangma’s strong points? One, the NPP is aligned to the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which is most likely to come to power this time around. Daryl’s win will be a win for the Congress which will in most probability be sitting in the opposition (although the Congress itself and Rahul G is optimistic that the Congress would prop up a host of political combines including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to form the Government). Secondly, PA Sangma is a past master at grass-roots campaigning. He knows the art of convincing the rural folks, something that Daryl still has to learn. Third, people might still elect the Sangma they know than a brand new MP candidate they don’t; one who still has to make a mark in Delhi. Besides, Sangma is a seasoned politician and one who is easily recognisable as a prominent political figure with a national stature.
But let’s look what works for Daryl. He is a rank newcomer into politics and therefore has nothing to lose. If he wins it’s a big win for Dr Mukul Sangma. As to how he will represent the people of Garo Hills in Parliament is a big riddle. But he has a mentor in Dr Sangma. If he loses, he can go about his business as usual without losing much sweat. In 2018 he will contest the Assembly election and perhaps win his seat and even become a minister. That is if the Congress still returns in 2018 which is a long way off and politics changes like the climate. Whichever way, Daryl will not lose much sleep. His loss will be Dr Mukul Sangma’s loss. Period.
For the elder Sangma, however, this is a, ‘do or die’ battle. He cannot afford to lose the election this time. He needs to win if he is to make sense of his political life. Losing this election might send him into deep depression as it could any senior politician fighting to retain his legitimacy among the people who sent him to parliament repeatedly. PA Sangma leads the NPP and is keen to make a mark by winning a few seats to the Lok Sabha this time. He has a problem through. Being the NPP leader he also has to tour different states to ensure that others contesting from his party also come through. Will Sangma be able to cover so much ground? The Meghalaya Congress will be concentrating in the State only. One of the key points for winning the Lok Sabha election is to activate constituencies. There are 24 Assembly seats in Garo Hills of which the Congress holds sway over 13. There are Independent MLAs also supporting the Congress. If all of them give their full backing to Daryl Momin, he might just be able to sail through. Using this rationale the chances for PA Sangma to make it this time around seem rather dismal since NPP has only 2 MLAs from the Garo Hills. But people have their own way of voting for the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly. So it’s anybody’s game really.
The next article will look at the Shillong Parliamentary seat where the fight is among equals. Since the wave is yet to take shape (we are only experiencing very strong winds at the moment) things should look sharper within the next two weeks here. But the regional parties have already shot themselves in the foot by putting up two candidates. It’s a shame that personal egos have got the better of concern for the “Jaitbynriew Hynniewtrep.” But that’s like saying that the Congress does not care for this Jaitbynriew Hynniewtrep. Sounds like a vacuous statement this! Let’s wait and watch for the big fight. The AAP candidate might just give the stalwarts a run for their money!
In any case Jaitbynriew Hynniewtrep has been an election slogan for too long. It no longer resonates with the voters. Jaitbynriew has metamorphosed into a modern citizenry looking for development. They are tired of slogans and promises!