By Paramjit Bakhshi
There is a joke about us Meghalayans, which goes something like this. A woman is selling crabs at one of the Shillong markets. She has two containers of live crabs in front of her. One is covered and the other open. A customer comes, and the woman allows him to look at both the containers, but is quick to put the cover back, on one of them. The customer finds it strange, that she is so particular about covering only one container, and asks her the reason for it. She replies that, if she does not cover that particular container, all the crabs would escape. When he enquires why the crabs in the open container, do not escape she tells him, “Oh those are Meghalayan crabs, they can’t escape, because the moment, anyone of them tries to reach the top, all the others pull him down.”
Jokes apart, this is what we Meghalayans, seem to specialise in. In sixty seven years of India’s existence, as an independent country, it is only the sixteenth time (not including acting PM Gulzarilal Nanda) that a Prime Minister has changed. In contrast, last year we saw the twenty seventh change of a Chief Minister, in the forty two years of the state’s existence. So, on an average, while a Prime Minister, stays in office for a decent four and a half years, the mean time our Chief Ministers, can expect to occupy their chair, is just a little more than a year and a half. The sad part being that no matter who becomes the Chief Minister, in a few months a movement always begins to replace him. It is a similar story in District Councils too.
If our politics is so unstable, what governance can we expect, from our leaders? How can a Chief Minister focus on development, when he is kept on such tenterhooks about his own tenure? Is it then any wonder that, we continue to languish at the bottom of every developmental index? Having just returned from Gujarat, the contrast between the states is too blatant to ignore. Here we are fortunate to have many natural advantages – good weather, abundant rainfall, a comparatively fertile soil and great natural beauty. In Gujarat the climate is harsh, the temperature goes up to mid forties, and seventy percent of the land, is considered to be arid, or semi arid. Whereas, we have squandered our natural advantages, the Gujaratis have put their heads down, and created innumerable success stories. They have a thriving industrial and co operative sector, their decadal agricultural growth has been the highest in the country, they have a surplus of power, their villages are fully electrified and eighty percent of them are connected by all weather roads.
This has largely happened because of political stability and political vision. Today, they are proud to have a PM from their state, whereas we are loathe allowing any CM, to peacefully complete, a full tenure.
This should bring us to the question – what is it that we truly want? Having lived in the state for more than three decades, one can safely state, that that is something, none of us have truly thought about. Of course, when it comes to the things, that we don’t want, the list is quite exhaustive. We have learnt to hate, almost all new activity, without finding out, what we truly love. So our politics also reflects our attitude. We hate our leaders, and especially the ones, who try to change things around. We prefer to just drift along, in a haze of irresponsibility, without focus and without thought, occasionally getting carried away, on waves of misplaced pride and pseudo nationalism.
If it was the ILP last year, the issues which are being used to target the government now are the NGT ban and the situation in the Garo Hills. Yet just think – if any political leader, had really tried to enforce scientific mining, he would have been thrown out of power almost immediately. And all of us would have smirked at his audacity and lack of political acumen. Of course even the new incumbent, would not have addressed the issue, because we do not actually trust, and empower our political leaders, to address difficult matters. Every issue is allowed to become a political opportunity, to merely topple the government. Somewhat similar is the case with militancy. With so many political fingers, in the militant pie, unless there is a broad based political consensus, the issue will just linger.
Opportunistic political sniping, also affects the administrative machinery, and brings down the morale of bureaucrats and other government employees. Most times, we leave politicians and government officials, with no choice. We criticise them when they do something, and we criticise them when they do nothing. Is it any wonder then that most of them, safely choose to do nothing. It is politically, and career wise, safer to be guilty of acts of omission, than of commission. Ask most police officers, who are and were on, the forefront of fighting militancy, and they will tell you that they are targets not just of militants but also of politicians, NGOs, NHRC, other bodies and even the general public. In contrast people who do nothing lead a stress free and cushier existence.
For leaders to truly lead us, we will have to make the atmosphere in our state, more conducive. For one, we will have to learn to appreciate strong people. We will also have to choose people who are doers and not doubters. We need leaders with a vision and the moral courage to stand up for what they believe in, even if their notion, of what is good, is not a populist one. The last national election should provide us with some inspiration. People this time have voted for strong leaders across the board and not just from one party. Among the winners were able administrators such as Mr. Narendra Modi of BJP, Mr. Naveen Patnaik of BJD and Ms. Jayalaltha of AIDMK. A strong Mamata Banerjee trounced the ineffectual leadership of her opposition. Non performing parties such as BSP and SP were routed as were the indecisive AAP, JD(U), the fractured DMK and of course the Congress under a weak Manmohan Singh . While the rest of the country realised that we are heading for tough times and require tough leadership this awareness has escaped us.
The Prime Minister has already hinted that we will need to tighten our belts and swallow many a bitter pill if we are to come out of the mess the country is in. If the central government is focussed on performance it will want the state governments to be a part of that vision. The central dole which all North Eastern states have become accustomed to is unlikely to be given any longer without the strings of performance attached. Even the MNREGA is now being tied to actual asset creation.
With a dismal future ahead of us we can ill afford the luxury of non -performing governments or a merely opportunistic but otherwise listless and unconstructive opposition. If governments, for genuine reasons need to be removed, they should be removed by our vote, rather than by self interested lobbies. If regular toppling games continue to be played in the state, then our votes have no value. Politicians must be handed the awareness, that they are answerable directly to the electorate, and that the electorate has not given any remote control, to any interest group or lobby. And of course every government should be given a decent chance to perform.
It is said that we get the government we deserve. If we continue to be visionless we will get governments which are blind. If we don’t learn to encourage each other and merely thrive on criticising everyone and everybody our political leaders will do the same. It is said by the mystics, that our outer reality is a reflection of our inner reality. More than “Look East” or look elsewhere, we all need to look inside ourselves at our true natures. Then we are likely to discover the true cause of our problems. It is possible that we will see deep inside us – hatred, jealousy, narrow mindedness, a love for easy money, opportunism, lack of self respect and dedication, insincerity, intolerance and a total lack of faith. Can an attitude like this lead to self sufficiency and development?
Unless we change our attitude no amount of money, political and chauvinistic rhetoric, agitations, militant movements, NGO intervention, newspaper articles or sermons will help us. It is said that even God helps those who help themselves. We need to have and build upon a vision of a vibrant Meghalaya which could take this country to become the second largest economy in this world. We can’t be stuck forever in a crabby little pot where the only limitations to our achievements are our and our neighbour’s attitudes.
The writer can be contacted at [email protected]