By Toki Blah
Some time ago Dr Barnes Mawrie came up with an article titled ‘The Hynniewtrep Dilemma’, ST 29th Jan 2014 . It was about some of us who are really beginning to worry about the destiny and future of the Hynniewtrep people. This worry is greatly caused by the impression that as a community we are going round in circles if not hopelessly groping in the dark. There is no vision of hope. No leadership towards a predetermined goal. No sense of destiny about the future. On the contrary the community is constantly fed on fear. Continuously being counselled and advised about the dangers (jingma) that lie ahead. What these dangers are, how they will happen and why they should happen has never actually been satisfactorily explained. What’s really funny, if it were not so tragic, is that the prophets of doom themselves are as vague as the next person as to the exact nature of the threat we all face. For 40 long years we have been fed the same rubbish. For 40 long years, unfounded fear has prevented us from moving ahead. Today we are back where we started 40 years ago, pulled back by saviours of the Jaitbynriew. This is collective social gullibility at its best !
One thing’s for sure- that these warnings about the looming danger and threat to the community will continue into the foreseeable future. They will continue to rouse passions, of fear or of anger; they will continue to excite; they will continue to cause unnecessary bloodshed and mayhem; and to be sure they will continue to project public leaders with 20×20 vision on the dangers we face but with a 0x20 eyesight on the basic issues and steps needed to propel the community into overall development and growth. The educational and intellectual profile of these self proclaimed saviours of Meghalaya is a matter of great concern. Most of them are educational dropouts posing as thinkers. People scared of their own shadows become leaders! How did we let this happen?
At this stage of this ridiculous catharsis an obvious question arises. Why do we as a reasonable community (jaitbynriew tip briew tip blei) tolerate such nonsense? I believe that Dr Mawrie has provided the clue to the question. We are a society caught in the process of change but without the vision where this change will lead to. The world around us is changing. It is a relentless reality which no amount of wishful thinking nor hysterical breast beating will stop. Things that our forefathers took for granted no longer prevail or exist. The egalitarian society we were once so proud of is gone. We continue to cling on to a land tenure system that has profited only the rich and the powerful. Employment opportunities of 30 years ago are no longer available to our youth, yet our education system continues to churn up white collared products. Our political system refuses to or is simply incapable of providing hope for the future. We realise we are truly stuck. Question is, what do we do?
Now without someone capable of visualising and articulating the blessings of the future; without the wisdom and ability to see both the plus and minus aspects of change; prospects of change can be frightening. Change can traumatise; it can be terrifying especially when we don’t know where this change is taking us; what it will bring ; what it portends. Panic sets in; society lashes out wildly when the only voice heard is the voice of cynics and prophets of doom. They themselves don’t know what to do so they end up frightening everyone else. Its what is happening in Meghalaya. Such people refuse to acknowledge that it is natural to change. They refuse to prepare for change. This is why visionary and capable leadership becomes so crucial. Tragedy is Meghalaya does not have it!
Does it then mean that other states; other communities have leaders capable of leading? Regrettably the answer is, Yes. We on the other hand have rejected visionary leadership and have allowed charlatans and imposters to fill in the leadership void in our Hynniewtrep society. There are those who declare that our salvation lies only in going back to an imaginary past. This claim is never questioned! There are those who shout from the roof tops that salvation will only come about if we cut and isolate ourselves from the rest of the world. It is the voice of people without vision. Many, especially our frustrated youth, unquestioningly swallow this unfounded yarn! They come in droves to meetings and public gatherings called by those who thrive by simply saying ‘NO’ to everything. Even anarchists and nihilists have large followings in Meghalaya, in a society driven by fear not by hope.
One of the major changes that has taken place in Hynniewtrep society, is the rapid urbanisation of our habitations and the migration of population from rural to urban centres. Dr Barnes has politely referred to it as a dilemma. Truth is it’s a first class catastrophe in the making! It is happening because of three basic reasons. Firstly, rural indigenous population literally exploded in the last three decades. 27.92% growth rate against the national 17.64%. A triumph of unruly libido over sensible family planning. Secondly there were no contingencies; no planning on how to absorb this huge sudden increase in population. No one foresaw it; therefore no one was prepared for it. Rural livelihoods continued to stagnate and the only option for the literate (not necessarily educated) rural youth is to migrate to the towns where they rot and frustrate even more. Thirdly, Urban Civil Society in Meghalaya stubbornly refuses to recognise the crisis and to prepare for it. The point being made is that, in 40 years of statehood, population explosion literally caught us with our pants down. So, does the real danger emanate from an insipid, visionless, inward looking leadership within or from some vague unspecified threat lurking round the corner from outside? Take your pick.
As a community most of us have been told that change , any change that upsets the status quo, is a threat. Most of us accept this without questioning its veracity. Does this mean that we are a society that has never undergone change in the past? Change must have happened in the distant past and the most recent was the introduction of the written script into these hills. It happened not too long ago and it completely changed our society from what we were 150 years ago to what we are today. A momentous change in so short a period. The surprise is that both the Hynniewtrep as well as the Achik community adapted to this momentous change so smoothly; so effortlessly. We literally moved up from the stone age to the 20th century with hardly a ripple of protest. We came out winners and we are able to fit in with the demands of a modern society because of the wisdom and courage of our forefathers. Truth is our unlettered forefathers had more courage that the so called educated Hynniewtrep society of today. Today, the entire Khasi Pnar community agonises over a simple question on how to clean up our city! There must be a very strong reason for this climb down in self confidence. Our very survival as a community may depend on our ability to identify this cause and to rectify it as fast as possible.
The only way to come up with a realistic answer is to be able to introspect and if we do this we should not be shocked to discover that the real cause of all our recent woes boils down to one simple fact – we just don’t have leaders to lead! We are a democratic people and we have always traditionally elected capable and respected leaders in the past. Today the party system; the first- past- the -post concept of leadership and majority rule has dulled our traditional skill in leader identification. Khasi value systems were always suspicious of mob decisions, yet today everyone swears by majority rule. Money power in politics has only worsened the situation as the numbers are made up of incompetent, illiterate and self seeking representatives. Politics has become a business no longer a service. People care more about how power can protection to business and self interest. Today we have an inward looking leadership that is devoid of vision except the need to make money by hook or by crook. Political opposition to the NGT ban is a glaring example. If at all there is a threat from change it is the threat from inefficient leaders who simply don’t care. Meghalaya and its people face a leadership crisis. This is the biggest threat to our society for unless we are capable of electing visionary leaders , we and our children are already doomed.
