By Janet Moore Hujon
It is no longer with any anticipation of pleasure or pride that I click on the ‘Shillong Times’ link. When once, the shenanigans of our politicians merely made my eyes roll, I now have to fight growing despair. Like so many of us I was happy to wait for that one day when all would be as promised, as hoped. But over forty years have passed and that one day is as elusive now as it has always been. In fact, the way we are conducting ourselves at the moment, that one day may never come. It is terrifying to have to admit that we have been consistently betrayed by our own. Meghalaya is in grave danger and if we continue to ignore the dire warning signs in almost every part of our state then we will be guilty of colluding with a government that shamelessly thrives on denial.
What must be described as absolutely outrageous is that certain response to the NGT ban on coal mining. The gall with which a certain group of “corpulent well-fed emissaries” (Toki Blah), on behalf of a so called starving community, sought and was granted a hearing with the President had to be seen to be believed. If anyone needs material for political lampooning, we in Meghalaya have it by the bagful. This demanding of respect when unable to give any is, as Babet Sten so rightly points out, “part of the modern Khasi arrogance” – a trait also evident in our other tribal ‘leaders’ as can be seen in the flashy lifestyles, the exploitation of the environment, the language of threats and that total disregard for human life and the crying need of society at large. If clout and money are the only lessons preached from the political pulpit, then it should come as no surprise if Meghalaya drifts into shameful moral oblivion.
When we, the tribal people, broke away from Assam to form our own state we were expressing a wish to define our distinctive tribal identity. But has this happened? No. The idealistic voice of the many has been overpowered and silenced by the raucous opportunism of the powerful. It is only in letters penned to editors of newspapers that that fragile voice is preserved. Through writing we have been able to at least publicly salvage some respect thus saving ourselves from being tarred by that same brush wielded by the corrupt and the corruptible. Yes what is most damning is the mind that manipulates and twists sacred beliefs to reinforce selfish personal gain. Suddenly the indigenous wealth of the land is private property. Suddenly there is the pretence that poisoned rivers and hills left barren by unscrupulous mining methods and total neglect should not be of urgent concern to the jaitbynriew whose rituals and songs are deeply reverential of a nurturing Earth Mother. And how it makes me see red when the word jaitbynriew is gradually being deprived of all significance and gravitas as it is periodically dragged through the muck of machiavellian politics.
Now as never before we see how wily those who want to stay in power are as they prey upon impressionable minds and hungry souls who naturally would not bite the hand that feeds them. Human beings are inherently selfish it seems and so of course the life of a human being will be seen as infinitely more valuable than that of a fish. But even if we want to hold on to that ‘selfish’ point of view, surely we cannot be so foolish as to think that human existence will not be harmed if we lose a source of food.
Now more than ever the organic links in our living world are being revealed. The damming of rivers has led to devastating floods. The unrecorded death of ecological partners in the insect and vegetable world spells doom to farmers and consequently the rest of the population. We cannot continue to strip our hills of tree cover and not expect any repercussions. Nor should we pour toxins into our rivers and oceans if we want them to be waters of life. Isn’t it just fortunate for us and our politicians that at the moment we are the aggressors and not the victims in this war of environmental pollution? What if a neighbouring state had killed the fish in our rivers depriving us of food and a livelihood? Would the jaitbynriew be up in arms and wipe out the threat? Or would we just sit back and hope that somehow the situation is going to resolve itself and maybe if we are fortunate (i.e. amassed vast fortunes as some of us have done), buy ourselves out of this mess and move home.
Any unthinking, rampant damage to the environment is no longer an isolated event. When China sneezes, Assam and Arunachal shudder. Oilfields burning in Iraq deposited soot on the pristine Himalayas. Carbon emissions bring death to fragile ecosystems at the Poles far removed from polluted cities hell bent on economic success. Yet it is shameful to think that despite all the evidence at our disposal, we persist in our campaign of establishing human dominance over Nature because we arrogantly think our victim cannot retaliate.
But ‘natural’ calamities show beyond doubt that we are still at the mercy of natural forces which are ultimately unpredictable. Rivers and seas know no borders and replenish and destroy without discrimination. The rain will continue to pound and not spare deforested mountains and hills nudging devastating landslides into life. The elements will always be a force to reckon with – they are who they are although not intentionally selfish like human beings who knowingly rape the environment purely for selfish gains.
One reason cited for Meghalaya’s predicament is that some who govern are not sufficiently educated. Perhaps that is true to a certain extent although I don’t think that the farmer who knows when to sow and when to reap but may not be able to read and write is a danger to Meghalaya in the way our politicians are. The farmer nurtures the land while our politicians pursue a policy of extraction and impoverishment. I also don’t think any of the representatives who met the President can plead a lack of schooling as an excuse for their ignorant behaviour. They know exactly what they are doing and that is why their determination to fight against a clean and green Meghalaya is so stomach churning.
But what I would really like to know is whether they have added the finishing touches to the tales they spin for the benefit of their followers. Have the faithful been told that one day coal too will run out and in that howling void who is going to feed the five thousand or should they be content to gnaw upon a stone? And most crucially who are the few who will live happily ever after? To deprive Meghalaya of the right to be described as a green and pleasant land is nothing less than an abject surrender to evil.
India is a democracy. India produced Gandhi whose simple faith in himself and India’s destiny, led to the non-violent defeat of imperialism. So if we don’t have the moral right to protest against all these crimes sins against our land and our people then who else does? We should not leave it to a few to fight a cause that concerns us all. It may look as if money is power in Meghalaya but we can buck the trend because for Meghalaya’s sake, we have to. We have to rescue today if we are to even dream of a tomorrow.