NINE months have passed since elections to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council were completed and the regional party coalition – All Regional Party Alliance (ARPA) was formed to take charge of the KHADC. The Executive Committee led by HSPDP MDC, Ardent Basaiawmoit started with a bang. The first task which the ARPA took up with gusto was to check whether all non tribal traders possessed the mandatory trading license and whether they had renewed those licenses. The idea was to strike fear in the hearts of these non-tribal traders and thereby get their compliance. It is nobody’s case that several non-tribals operate without a trading license in Shillong’s oldest market – the Iewduh. The benami trade is alive and kicking in Meghalaya. Several shops ostensibly owned by tribals are actually run by non-tribals. The non-tribal has a knack for business and pays the shop owner good money. It’s a win-win situation for both but bad news for the KHADC for they would get that much less money.
In May this year the ARPA listed out its priorities. It decided to amend the Trading by Non-Tribal Regulation Act, 1954 and the Khasi Lineage Act, 2005, “in the interest of the indigenous tribals.” It is unsure as to what sections of the above two Acts were sought to be amended but it can be assumed that Basaiawmoit’s Council was all set to relentlessly pursue an exclusivist agenda of ethnic purity both in trade and commerce and in the social practices.  The ARPA also spelt out its objectives of taking back the authority to remove any chieftain or headman who oversteps his limits. But such arbitrary powers can often turn an institution like the ADCs into autocratic power centres. While the ARPA states publicly that the removal of chiefs and headmen was to be done on receiving complaints from “people,” about the abuse of powers by the above entities, the processes for ascertaining who and why a headman or syiem/wahadadar has overstepped his limits, is not spelt out. One could ask a counter question to the KHADC. Can an elected MDC or MLA be removed if there are complaints of non-performance or corruption from the same “people?” If a person has been democratically elected there should be very clear set of criteria as to why he should be removed. In the past the KHADC has played dirty politics and removed Syiems who did not toe the Council’s line until the latter sought the intervention of the civil courts.
If at the State level Meghalaya is a practicing democracy can its second tier the Autonomous District Councils be run like oligarchies?  It is inevitable that Basaiawmoit’s tenure would be short-lived. He bulldozed his way through most decisions. Now that he has stepped down and the KHNAM MDC Adelbert Nongrum has taken over as the Chief Executive Member replacing Basaiawmoit, the HSPDP is playing spoil-sport. Is this what people elected the Council for? It’s time for the public to speak up and   challenge the  Council’s shenanigans.