By Michael Makri
Very unlikely the problems that we in Meghalaya have today are symptomatic of a State that has lost its soul. While we have a bureaucrats, politicians, headmen, etc., discharging their mandate as prescribed by law; but, the very way in which this task is done as we have witnessed over the years does not manifest any love for our state. There is nothing more evident than the great divide between the rich and the poor in Meghalaya. Our rule makers and our ‘supposed-to-be leaders’ are estranged from us. Their houses, cars, dresses, food habit and many more are elitist. They are the SAHEPs who have replaced the white man They live in gated and guarded mansions. Their children go to exclusive schools. They have everything that no ordinary citizen of our state would be able to afford even if they work for 24 hours a day.
Our Indian Constitution trumpets that we are a sovereign nation. But what does sovereignty mean? Whose freedom are our soldiers and policemen guarding day in and day out? Are they not serving the ends of a ruling class? Sometimes I ask myself, where is God amidst all these troubles confronting more than 3 million souls?This is it! This is the right time to pass judgment on our leaders and lay our moral claim to our own destiny as a people. We are not only being taken advantage of by those who are in power; they strip us of our dignity every time they steal from us. It is not just our taxes or our shares in the economy that they are misusing; many of those whom we address as SAHEPs and BABUs are thieves who have taken away from our future and so much more our children’s future.
With the exception of one or two, most of them have stellar academic backgrounds – their own manifesto proves so. They have been bred in an environment so conducive to learning that it is as if the gods have moulded them, and imbued them with the divine attribute of eternal wisdom and the characteristics King Solomon possessed in order to rule Israel. The mantra they recite in the garden of knowledge is that man is created for God’s greater glory. Yet, what happened along the way?
The poor have remained without hope. The sick have remained in despair. The hungry continue to suffer. Villages few miles from one or two towns have not seen electricity, clean drinking water, roads and communications. Men, women and children in conflict areas like Upper Tarabari, Gazang reserve Forest, Hahim, Langpih, Borduar, Boklapara, Nongwah, Matamur, Khanapara-Pilangkata, Deshdemoreah Block I and Block II, Khanduli, Ratacherra or even within the State continue to flee a miserable life brought about by a senseless insurgents, hooligans and militants.
Our State is but one step to hell. Our leaders do not even know what it means to hold themselves accountable. CORRUPTION stares us in the face. Yet the masses are continually blinded by a false sense of loyalty with the ENDLESS PROMISES and a few coins during the elections. But still, we have to hold on to our deepest aspirations, to our dreams. We have to commit ourselves and continue to dream that the time will come when as a State we will be able to get back our lost soul.
While a “clash of civilization” may suggest that for decades people of different religions, denominations and cultural practices have fought against each other, now we have to find a common ground which will unite more than divide us as Meghalayans.
If one may revisit history and consider the resilience of societies around the world, though there are not that many. We might find stories that speak of the unconquerable spirit of the human race. The United States survived the Depression in 1929-1939, Europe rose from the rubble of two world wars, and a country as small as Singapore, though poor in natural resources, has succeeded in amassing wealth for its citizens.
If we may ask, what is the common thread in those things mentioned above we will find out that more than knowledge, it is a strong incorruptible leadership that stands out. A strong leader like Franklin Roosevelt of the United State is most peculiar because he does what is necessary when all the rest have resigned to a cruel fate. People will not believe someone who cares only about projecting a clean image, about promising to change Meghalaya like a magician. A great leader is not an idol that people respect or even worship. But, he is someone that people believe in because first and foremost he believes in them.
Such a great leader rallies his people to believe that such a future exists for them. Moses in Exodus, the Bible tells us, found strength not only deep within him but also in a people so exploited that life’s only chance was liberation. Above all else, faith means transcending failure and defeat by finding the true meaning of life.
Human beings cannot be fashioned into a strong person on the basis of abstract and academic innuendos. We know that nothing replaces human experience and how it carves for man a true brilliance that moves him to give greater freedom to his fellowmen. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Kiang Nangbah, and Tirot Sing exemplify this ideal.
But friends, let me remind you that if we continue to think that God will send us a saviour, we will be centuries away from a life that each Meghalayan morally deserves. More than anything else, the spiritual and moral downfall of those who are presently in positions of power, the politicians, and the bureaucrats means that every Meghalayan should become a leader in his own right.
Truth and reality tells us that when a student exerts more than enough effort, he will find out that the future holds something for him. When a father does things right for his family, he gives his children a future. When an ordinary bureaucrat performs his job honestly, he is an inspiration who helps slowly restore trust in the bureaucracy.
Of course there is no silver bullet against all the ills in our society. But we cannot lose faith in ourselves if not on our ‘supposed-to-be leaders’ because the pursuit of justice and equality is something that we owe to our children and our children’s children. Let a leader arise among us!