Patricia Mukhim
Every state tries its best to perch itself in the mindscape of global tourists and to be a world class destination. Meghalaya does too. But what the Government has not been able to do, some spirited groups and individuals have done remarkably well. At last count there were at least about 25,000 people who attended the NH 7 Bacardi Weekender musical event. It brought one of the biggest bands – Megadeth to Shillong and also the renowned singers/bands from the country and the region. The venue at Bhoirymbong was just right for that humungous crowd that had gathered to witness one of the biggest musical fests which according to the NH7 promoter, Vijay Nair is the biggest ever to be hosted in the country. In every aspect the event was managed well. Local event managers Springboard Surprises really surprised us all by pulling off this show. Hundreds of music fans from Guwahati had to do day trips because every hotel/guest house/home stay was sold out.
Earlier, the Durga Puja celebrations too went off without a glitch from start to finish. It made every Shillongite feel good and get out of the normal depressive mood that normally we are afflicted with. And that depressive mood I have realised is generated whenever we think of politics and politicians and their double-speak; their one-upmanship and their craze for power at all costs. The ordinary citizen becomes a pawn in these treacherous political games and often does not know that he/she is being co-opted to meet the ambitions of certain politicians.
The other upcoming event would be the International Mei Ramew festival that celebrates the idea of food sovereignty and tries take us all on a journey of rediscovery of our food chain. Truly we have lost so much native wisdom while marching on the road towards progress and civilisation. In our quest to mimic everything western from dress, music, dances, mannerisms, academic philosophies and above all their food habits we have forgotten our own practices which, because they are tied so closely to nature are also the most sustainable practices. One of the significant indicators of our native practices is the absence of greed and the ability to define ‘need’ with a pragmatic clarity. Hence we used wood only to build houses and saw the utility of trees only to the extent that they provided us with wood for our buildings and furniture but not as a timber to be relentless cut down and exported. Need quickly transitioned to greed with the advent of a rapacious market. Indeed greed has replaced need in our vocabulary although we have used clever words to camouflage that greed. The coal mine owners who have bled the earth and caused our natural springs to turn toxic argue vehemently that they have the right to continue with this horribly disruptive practice by invoking the uniqueness of our tradition. I often wonder who constructs these unique facets and if they are borne out by history since Khasis have no written records of their past and all we can rely on are romanticised oral traditions.
On our own we would not have been able to stop the looting of our forests. If the Supreme Court directive of 1996 putting a 10-year moratorium on cutting of forests and export of timber had not come when it did, Meghalaya would have been in a far worse situation as far as climate change is concerned. Now the National Green Tribunal has come as our saviour and put a halt to coal mining before a natural calamity of serious proportions overtakes us. Now is the time to think of more sustainable livelihoods for our people. The coal mine owners have anyway made their money. They have bought whatever land and property there is to be bought in the city of Shillong. In fact of coal mining had continued the property prices in Shillong would have shot through the roof; not that they are any better today. But the NGT ban gives time for people most affected by mining, namely the labourers, the small tea shop owners and the transport operators to take stock of things and to reflect on the short term gains that have led to large scale destruction. There is need to make these ancillary units realise that they have been part of this disruptive force of environmental destruction and they need to sit back and think because a desolate, unproductive Meghalaya with rivers that flow but are full of poisons is not what they would want their future generation to inherit. Or would they? For that matter even the coal mine owners would not want that dreary future for their kids. It is true that the moneyed class including some prominent coal mine owners have packed up their children to study in the UK, USA and Europe. Most probably those kids will make their future there hence their parents are not bothered about what happens to the people here who cannot afford to even send their kids to Shillong to study.
We would have noticed that the so-called defenders of tradition, particularly the Rangbah Shnong, the Syiem, Dolloi and Nokma have been either reticent on the NGT ban or have supported those who invoke tradition to support the ongoing war on the environment. They have not actually stood up for anything. Not for the environment; not for conservation; not against the destructive forces that appropriate all our community resources; not against corruption. So the question to ask these claimants of a hoary past is: what are they actually standing for? Is it only for political power, because mind you the idea of running a Shnong is as much political as running a constituency? Many have transitioned from the Rangbah Shnong/Rangbah Dong to the MLA/MDC. So when people speak about of Dorbar Shnong being little islands that are shielded from the vagaries of partisan politics, they are actually betraying an innate ignorance about what constitutes politics. Or they choose to remain naïve about the deep-seated inclinations in each one of us to drive the politics of the day.
To be fair, the present tribal society of Meghalaya is in a state of immense churning. There are stiff battle lines that are drawn between the progressive forces who are seen as traitors to the cause by a set of inward looking, insular thinking patriarchs for whom the last bastion seems to be tradition because tradition ensured that they had a pre-eminent male domain from where they exercised their power. They want that sort of pre-eminence to continue. Hence they would resist having women as co-participants in the running of the Dorbar Shnong. They would resist elections by secret ballot which is the sine-qua-non of democracy. In fact they would resist anything that threatens their ability to manipulate and control. Control is the word and the world is full of control freaks who nurture their ambitions under a cloak of social service. Of course there are grand exceptions but they are too few to be counted. Power is addictive and we see some Rangbah Shnong hanging on to power forever, on the pretext that people continue to elect them.
So here we are, having to brace ourselves for yet another show of strength by the Rangbah Shnong who are opposed to the proposed Grassroots Administration Bill that had been presented by the Lapang Committee to the Government on October 30th. It is billed to be a crowd puller that is much bigger than NH 7 hence those who have to travel across Shillong on that day would have to keep in mind the new traffic rules for the day. So much for democracy! Why should poeples’ movements be curtailed simply because some protest is happening somewhere? And if the Government did not have the spine to go through the process of adapting the Bill presented to it by the Lapang Committee after due deliberations in the legislature, why did it form the Committee in the first place and waste people’s time and resources?
The ordinary person is confused and we have to blame this spineless Government for cowering under pressure. Tomorrow there could be a bigger protest on something else. Will the Government bow down to that pressure too? Why do we have a Government in the first place if it cannot give us the citizens the right direction at this crucial juncture? Or should we vote out this Government by some kind of referendum? If the Rangbah Shnong can call a meeting of its camp followers, tomorrow some other citizens’ groups too can bring equal pressure on the Government. Which pressure will the Government bow to next? We have truly succeeded in turning democracy on its head. The Government is keen to take Meghalaya back to the cradle of oligarchy which is where this whole notion of a few clans ruling over the people originated from. Democracy never had a chance here and never will because we the people don’t want to stand up for anything. We are happy to watch the fun from the sidelines and criticise, criticise, criticise.
But perhaps these shenanigans too will become tourism crowd pullers. We never know! Maybe people will pay money to come here and see how tradition unfolds itself into an imagery of the absurd!