By Toki Blah
Last Sunday the sermon from the pulpit was about St Peter fleeing Rome to escape prosecution that befell early Christians of those times. On the way he meets a risen Christ, travelling the opposite direction and carrying a cross on his shoulders. St Peter stops to ask him “Where are you going?”(Quo vadis?). This write-up today carries no spiritual message but the essential question referred to above is apt and relevant as far as Meghalaya as a political entity, is concerned. Quo vadis Meghalaya? Where are you going? I want to know. A lot of people want to know.
Question is, does the state have any vision for the next 15, 20 30, 50 years ahead? Does anyone have an idea where we are heading? Sounds like a stupid question to ask after 68 years of Independence. A dimwit query to make after 42 years of Meghalaya statehood. But ask we must because of a growing suspicion, not without justifiable cause, that Meghalaya and its people are going nowhere. Ask we must because a growing number of people would like to know; would like to be assured that the future of their children is safe and secure. It must be asked because it is becoming clearer by the day that we’re a community groping in the dark. It’s frightening, thoroughly unnerving and therefore some explanation is due.
The first group of people who should answer are our politicians. They and the political parties they foster basically exist because they have taken upon themselves the mantle and onus to lead. To lead the state and its people. That they have essentially led the state nowhere; that we continue to go round in circles for the last 42 years demands an explanation. Quo vadis Meghalaya? To tell the truth it seems Meghalaya and its people have made a terrible mistake in putting too much faith in political leaders. They prove to be incapable of leading. Truth is, Meghalaya politicians have no sense of responsibility to anyone except themselves.
It’s been proven time and again that their sole interest is self interest. If at all the brain is ever exercised, it is for self aggrandisement. It begins there and ends there! Election manifestoes are simply to fool the Election Commission. They are not even worth the paper they are written on but our politicians and political parties are least bothered. They win not because of manifestoes or on aspects of good governance. They win because of the amount of money they are able to spend to buy votes. The ‘winnability factor’ is on how much the candidate can spend. It has nothing to do with the ability; the readiness or the sincerity to serve. Govt formation is simply creation of a platform for the ‘toppling game’ and creation of artificial political instability. When will the public wise up to the tricks of these parasites?
Politics, elections and Govt formation has little to do with the welfare of the common man. Recognising these facts makes it easier to understand instability of Govts in our state and the subsequent inability to provide good governance. Saying this however does not help; does not mitigate the doubts and confusion that confront tribal society in the 21st Century. Meghalaya society is undergoing change. There is a lifestyle change affecting the way we live, eat, communicate and interact with each other. Tribal society is being split into the urban and the rural; the gap between the rich and the poor widening. There is this tug of war between the modern and tradition. Which way do we turn? Where do we go? Who will show the way?
Then there is the bureaucracy or the so called steel frame, the IAS and MCS officers on whom the whole edifice of governance is reposed on. They are the people with the experience and expertise. Meghalaya does not lack officers with the calibre and intelligence prevailing elsewhere. However, under popular elected Govts the bureaucracy is gasping for survival. Serving officers push files with the lethargy of hospital patients, weary and indifferent to public opinion of what they do. There is lack of vitality, verve and dash. The disconnect is alarming. In private conversations the desire to do something is always tinged with the frustration and fear of being misunderstood. Retired local officers retire from contributing to society the day they step out of office and the silence maintained by these worthies only adds to the deepening gloom of a society bereft of leaders. Quo vadis Meghalayan society?
Then there are the so called NGOs, pressure groups and civil society organisations who are so vehement and patriotic, at times to the point of being chauvinistic, about the future and prospects of the Jaitbynriew. So let’s talk about Ka Jaitbynriew. Quo vadis Ka Jaitbynriew? Does anybody have a vision of where Ka Jaitbynriew is heading? As a community, what message are we passing on to our children? The most frightening thing that can happen to any community, especially its youth, is to be repeatedly told that there is no hope in the future and that salvation lies only in turning back to the past! It’s a diet the Jaitbynriew has been fed on for the last 40 years. The suspected psychological damage done to the community must be irreparable. Time to access and question such a stance.
None can dispute the fact that this sort of message destroys hope and with it the ambition of our youth as no other disease can. It kills initiative. It kills creativity. It sows confusion. And we are consciously doing it- murdering ‘Hope’ in our future generations! One is mystified by this obsession and stringent call for revisiting history; to go back to the past. The call to relive the Instrument of Accession; the treaty of merger; to implement a colonial 19th century ILP. These no doubt are excellent platforms to raise populist sentiments but one would also like to hear about the implications they are likely to have. Suppose they happen then what? What happens after that? What guarantee that we all live happily ever after? Deprived of a vision and roadmap for the future – Quo vadis the Jaitbynriew, comes out as a very pertinent question.
So what actually is happening to all of us? What is our identity status before the world? The question is being asked because Meghalaya, as no other, is a living example of the cliché “allowing the Tribal to develop within his own ingenuity”, enshrined by the fact that we are a state fully covered by the 6th Schedule. A friend once told me that we are a community living in a dream world. We have no faith in the future; we are uncomfortable with the present and we simply love to glorify the past. We don’t even trust Governments we ourselves elect! In the process everyone is waiting for something good to happen; for manna to fall from heaven; for a Messiah to descend and save us from all the hardships and travails of a realistic world.
How this will happen; why it should happen and when it will happen God only knows. But it is a subconscious dream that demands that everything be kept on hold until it does happen. Hold on to the Status Quo! Don’t move an inch forward! So why bother about a vision, a road map or a future. Everything will be taken care of when it happens, don’t worry. Of course the friend was too polite to tell me that we are living in a fool’s paradise, but the implication was clear. Be that as it may let’s start by asking ourselves a question. What prevents us from scripting, with Hope, our own future; the future of our children; the destiny of the Jaitbynriew? Why should we be so obsessed with this unfounded fear of the night that we miss out on the prospects of tomorrow’s sunrise. What prevents us from seriously taxing our brains with a, ” Quo vadis tomorrow?”
If we sincerely wish for a correct perspective; if we really want an answer, that answer must lie in the ability of Meghalaya to provide, tomorrow or whenever, a sense of wellbeing; of peace and contentment and of security in its people. These three vital aspects of civilised existence must form the goal of the state and the Government. If this goal is missing there is no justification for our present form of political autonomy. No justification for statehood. However for the three aspects to manifest themselves there must be a vision on what we really want for our children; planning towards a predetermined goal and formation of an approach strategy towards such a goal. Meghalaya must have a roadmap to answer the disturbing question, Quo vadis Meghalaya? (The author is President of ICARE)