By Patricia Mukhim
Anyone in Dr Mukul Sangma’s shoes would not have breathing space. He carries the responsibility of governing over 3 million people who hope that he will make their lives a little better. Ten years ago we were led by leaders without a vision for Meghalaya. So yes, when Dr Mukul Sangma was anointed Chief Minister by the Congress High Command many heaved a sigh of relief that a young, dynamic and experienced politician would be taking on the reins of governance. Dr Sangma gave brilliant speeches laced with appropriate jargons and since he is well informed, his speeches hit the right chords and resonated with Shillong’s cerebral polity who had who had in the past been fed with pedestrianised delivery of badly written speeches. Alas! Three years down the line, Dr Sangma seems to have hit a plateau. And many today would agree with Saleng Sangma, the CM’s legislative colleague and rival that he is more absent than present in the State.
When Dr Mukul Sangma left for Brazil to watch the final round of the World Cup Football, many wondered whether the big screen was not big enough for him. “How could he could leave the State at a time when Delhi is itself bombarded by bad news about Garo Hills from sundry groups who are currently under the impression that talking to State leaders is an absolute waste of time?” echoed many political observers. Indeed, several groups from Garo Hills have been visiting Delhi in batches to brief the Union Home Ministry about the situation back home. There are others who are camping in Delhi with the hope of influencing those in Parliament to lift the National Green Tribunal ban on coal mining. Things are not all in ship shape in Meghalaya.
The Chief Minister’s pet project which many term as a political scheme and not a developmental project – the Integrated Basin Development and Livelihoods Programme (IBDLP) is now three years old but is yet to show results. If the CM is going to claim his success from the efforts put in by Departments that have somehow been conjoined with the IBDLP such as Fisheries and Rural Development Department then perhaps there is something to tout by way of increase in fish ponds across the State. But is that because of the IBDLP or despite it? Several institutions have been created under the Basin Development Programme. Tourism is one that has not made any progress at all. We are where we started several years ago. Whatever development has taken place in the tourism sector is largely private initiative. I am not so sure that these private developers really got any substantial help from the State.
The youth of this state would soon turn into a demographic liability instead of its dividend. While the Department of Sports and Youth Affairs has invested resources in the first part (Sports) youth affairs which imply many different spheres of activities such as building youth resource centres and skills training centres where young people can hope to find answers to myriad problems that bewilder them in these very challenging times. How many Government initiated youth counselling centres are there in Meghalaya? The Don Bosco Youth Centre in Shillong is a good model of what a Youth Resource Centre should be. That place is throbbing with life. It is a skills training centre, a counselling centre, a place for Alcoholics Anonymous, a gym cum indoor stadium and what have you? And yet it is confined to a small space in Don Bosco! Can’t the Government replicate such centres in district and sub-divisional headquarters?
Large sections of young people in Garo Hills who are now used to a lifestyle of ease and extortion would sooner than later have to be brought to the straight and narrow. The State would need several counselling psychologists to deal with these obdurate mindsets. Where are those counsellors? Let’s not look at the church for counselling. This is a specialised activity and requires several counselling sessions, sometimes with little success. Yet counselling is a must. And professional counsellors too are imperative. Is the Government even thinking of these imperatives?
We have heard the CM articulate on several occasions how women would be brought under the banking umbrella (financial inclusion) so that they become bankable individuals who could start small businesses. We wonder how much of this has happened in rural Meghalaya? Are the banks even ready to change their set mode of functioning simply because the Chief Minister of Meghalaya wants to run a marathon on this issue? Doubtful! Financial inclusion can only come about through micro-crediting initiatives. Not otherwise because the banks will not reach the last mile. There are lakhs of women in this State today who head their households with meagre resources. Is the CM even aware of their numbers? Would he like to commission a quick research? Because the outcome would surprise many and shake up the lethargic Secretariat which has always been a cosy, languorous space reeking of power but with very little output.
The incident of 13 young women in Garo Hills who were allegedly commercial sex workers and were apprehended by vigilantes who quite forgot how Jesus Christ dealt with the woman in adultery and tortured the bedraggled souls shows that even the administration floundered. The Deputy Commissioner claims that he sent them for counselling by the Church under the watch of journalists. One of the most bizarre situations if any! Why would a journalist/journalists turn into matrons chaperoning young women who have ostensibly strayed from the straight and narrow moral standards of Garo society? These much maligned women and others like them are the ones who urgently require to be rehabilitated under the CM’s financial inclusion scheme (whatever that means). I reiterate here and this after interviewing several women who have decided to sell their bodies for hard cash, that no woman given a choice would choose to prostitute herself before several men of questionable character. Its sheer poverty and the need to feed self and family that push women into such debasing activities. Those who are quick to judge their character and cast the first stone should turn to the Bible for guidance.
Having interacted with the CM many times one is at pains to understand what he actually wants to achieve for Meghalaya. He has brilliant ideas but they don’t seem to get off the ground. I am sorry to bring here the example of a man that many (especially the Congress) like to hate. lf Narendra Modi as Chief Minister of Gujarat could get his bureaucrats to deliver and deliver on perfect timelines why is the Meghalaya CM who also enjoys a comfortable majority in the Government not able to show results? Modi battled Godhra as a brand new CM of Gujarat. Mukul Sangma is not faced with such challenges. True he is an embattled man with this tribal status being questioned by political rivals but this is a personal battle that cannot affect the State and its governance.
A Chief Minister who remains away from the capital city on flimsy reasons and for too long a period sends many undesirable signals. Is he shirking his duty as alleged by his detractors? Is he unwell and therefore needs to go for regular treatment? Is his presence in Delhi almost every week compulsory? Should he not be spending more time in Garo Hills mobilising the people to stand up to violence and militancy? Should he not be leading from the front? Parts of South Garo Hills remain undeveloped islands of backwardness even in this day and age. Can he not push development into these abandoned spaces and get people to collaborate in this nation-building endeavour? The CM must be aware of what’s happening in Langpih and other areas bordering Assam. Why is he taking things easy?
The CM will obviously not like these questions but answer them he must. The people of Meghalaya can no longer be kept in the dark about the whereabouts of their chief executive. He is answerable to the people of this State for every trip he makes. Nothing can be private or personal about a public figure. That is why many don’t want to join politics. They prefer their privacy! Politicians unfortunately cannot claim that privacy except while in the bath; in the toilet and in bed. Sad but that’s a conscious choice they have made!