By Albert Thyrniang
The GNLA’s bandh in Ampati, which is Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma’s constituency has been in force since March 9. It’s now almost three weeks. But the proscribed militant outfit is adamant with continuance of the unreasonable and unjustified shut down. The sick must be dying for want of medicines and care. The poor people must be suffering; the daily wage earners must be starving to death literally. Babies must be crying for food. Even as I write this article on Palm Sunday (Remembrance of the suffering of Jesus), I can only sympathise with the people of Ampati for their untold sufferings. Though the district administration distributed food materials from household to household the aid is too little.
On March 11, hundreds of people came out in the streets of Ampati town defying the indefinite bandh. However, after the banned militias issued threats to organisers of the silent procession from Ampati mini stadium to the police station and back, the bandh resumed the next day. Sad that the power of the gun triumphed over the human spirit. It is unfortunate that no one could stand up to threats and intimidation. The peace groups of NGOs, pressure groups, civil society organizations and the powerful Churches succumbed to fear. Yes, they have made appeals for lifting of the bandh but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears of the GNLA. In all likelihood, from his resting place, Rabindranath Tagore is still praying, “Into that heaven of freedom my father, let my country awake”.
The reason for the indefinite bandh in the CM’s bastion is to protest against the killing of a Nokma’s son by the police in Oragitok and the mass murder of five members of two families in Mrigre village near Rongram, Tura. The outfit’s demands are immediate suspension of the policemen and the magistrate involved in the ‘fake encounter’ and institution of an independent enquiry into the two incidents. The alleged gunning down of the innocent young man and lynching of witchcraft suspects are both condemnable. But why punish the people of Ampati who had nothing to do with the Oragitok and Mrigre killings? Their only crime is that they accidentally happened to be residents (not necessarily supporters) of the Chief Minister’s heartland.
Dr. Mukul Sangma is living comfortably and securely in the fortified Rs 100 crore palace, unaffected by the Monday to Friday bandh. The CM may be partying in hotels on bandh nights as he had done earlier to beat the financial crunch. The CM had also exhibited an uncaring attitude when a chopper was used to airlift militant leaders rather to rescue people stranded by flood waters. The point is that while the CM may be morally responsible for the twin incidents, the sufferers are the wrong people. The GNLA or a section of it too is totally insensitive to the prolonged sufferings of fellow human beings for absolutely no fault of theirs. I say a section of it because according to the outfit the decision to impose the indefinite closure in Ampati came after a long deliberation of its top leaders. This implies that a section of the outfit was not in favour of the indefinite shut down. Any way the closure will enter its fourth week. We are familiar with bandhs, but the GNLA has taken this bandh culture to a new level.
Unable to deal with the GNLA, the CM vented his anger on the media. He lashed out at the fourth pillar of democracy for publishing press releases and emails of militant groups calling for the bandh. ‘The media is a mouth piece of militants’, the CM charged. He also threatened to write to the Centre to bring out a stringent law to curb the freedom of the press and the media. Protests and condemnation by the Meghalaya Editors and Publishers Association (MEPA) and boycott on his speeches in Assembly have not led the CM to either withdraw his statement or apologise for the outburst. If the GNLA has taken bandh culture to a new level the CM is taking intolerance to another level.
With the demands not met, the most feared armed rebel outfit announced office picketing of all government offices in Garo Hills on March 26 and 27. On the first day a good number of office workers defied the order but according to reports, GNLA cadres or their sympathisers made calls to some officers warning them of dire consequences. In one district headquarter there were even rumours that gun wielding men were approaching offices to shoot down defilers. Panicked and wanting no risk, only top ranking officers recorded attendance on the next day.
The Government employees had another two days of paid holidays. The government could have issued an order to its workers to disregard the diktat of the GNLA. Even if it had not done so, it could have declared 28th (Saturday) a working day to make up for the loss. Though the financial year is ending the government does not seem to care about completion of works in its offices. We now have a high level of bandh culture and new low level of work culture.
Speaking about work culture or absence of it, the Modi government last year declared December 25 a working day. It wanted to observe the date of the birth of Jesus as a good governance day. Here is where Modi erred. Why good governance day on Christmas day, the number one festival of Christians? It was communal written all over it. The argument of the BJP was that Christians constitute only less than three percent of the total population. Why should the 97 percent not work? The Prime Minister, a workaholic who sleeps only three hours, must be concerned that there are far too many public holidays in India. They are hampering the development and progress of the nation. He wants to increase the number of working days and the only option is to reduce holidays. In principle I agree with country’s highest executive head.
Here in Meghalaya Christmas is not a one day festival. It is a prolonged and even excessive celebration. In the official list only 25th is public holiday but we know for how long offices remain non-functional before and after Christmas day. From around December 20, right up to January 10 you need not approach any office. Perhaps, the PM who is seen as an RSS hardliner can teach us that work without attending church may make us more honest, morally and ethically upright and better human beings. We are a Christian majority state. We have political leaders, bureaucrats, employees, teachers, NGO leaders, businessmen, etc who are Christians but there is also corruption, poor work culture, absenteeism, moral and ethical bankruptcy and violence in alarming measure. Are the teachings of Christianity compatible with our value systems? Have they translated into our practical day to day life? If we consider Christianity a superior religion then why are we no better (worse) than other ‘non-Christian’ states? Someone dared to say, ‘Christianity is skin deep’.
While declaring the indefinite bandh in Ampati the GNLA lashed out at the CM, Home Minister, elected representatives from Garo Hills and pressure groups (read NGOs for a more pleasantly sounding word). It spared no one. Earlier it had also termed certain peace groups as pro-government. For lack of credibility, no one has taken a strong stand against the terror group who are wrongly and cruelly punishing innocent citizens of the CM’s stronghold.
Wonder how long this face-off will continue and why people have to pay such a heavy price!