2014 has been a year of great change. For the first time after many decades, the BJP won a clear majority in the Lok Sabha elections and is now ruling the country. This year saw the rise and rise of one individual – Narendra Damodardass Modi who started his early life selling tea. This has given hope to many Indians that they don’t need to belong to a dynasty or a pedigree to become the country’s prime minister. A great lesson indeed for a country that has been in the grip of one family and one party for too long a period! The Modi Government has raised many expectations from a beleaguered citizenry that had seen inflation hitting them hard and corruption carrying on unabated, thereby taking the country on a downward slide. Seven months is perhaps not enough time to judge a Government and since hope beats eternal in the human breast, Indians hope that the Modi Government takes this country to a new trajectory of progress and development.
For Meghalaya, 2014 has been a violent year. The most brutal killing of Josbina Sangma by the banned outfit GNLA remains in our collective memories. Meghalaya became the talking point even as the national media focused its attention on the State. This incident also brings to the fore the absence of a coherent policy both at the state and national level in dealing with militant groups of all persuasions. Knee- jerk reactions and short term measures aimed at achieving political points have dictated all actions against militants. Indeed the euphemism “militant” needs to be rejected. Those who use terror as a weapon to unsettle the state should be termed “terrorists” and dealt with stringently. Unless the state decides to take on terror mongers head –on its citizens will continue to be soft targets of terrorists.
As we welcome the New Year, we leave behind memories both good and bad. But again our hope is that 2015 brings in many more occasions to smile and less to fume and fret about. At the political level we hope that the Government delivers on its promises to serve the public interest and make itself more accessible to the weak, the voiceless and the powerless. At the personal level we all make New Year resolutions to become better human beings in every sense of the term. May we stick to those resolutions even as we expect Government to fulfill its promise of “Less Government, more governance.” We have a challenge in Meghalaya. The challenge is to take forward the Swacch Meghalaya campaign in the true sense of the word for garbage is our biggest challenge yet!
