By Sajay Laloo
The incumbent Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma under whose leadership Congress has managed to convince and impress voters that he is a real leader who means business, has provided political stability to Meghalaya. By giving a stable government which is the precursor to development, he has created history in leading his party to win the most number of seats in the last Assembly election. The enlightened and literate voters who have lost faith in the ideology of other parties, with great expectations have given full support to the present CM to run the State. They have given 30 MLAs in a 60 Member house enabling Dr Mukul to have the last laugh and embossed a magical number in the history of the Congress in Meghalaya. This shows that people have fully reposed their faith and confidence in his leadership to lead the state for a full five year term.
In the journey of a politician he will surely commit silly and sometimes serious mistakes. Dr. Mukul, in his journey too might have committed some mistakes, but that should not hinder or stall the progress and development of the whole State. One faulty policy should not hamper progress of the whole state. Responsible citizens who care about the development of the state will come up with suggestions and remedial inputs and not simply shout and growl at every opportunity. If there is a caterpillar crawling on the leaves of a tree or branches, one will try to pick the caterpillar and throw it away rather than fell the tree altogether.
Nobody can deny the fact that, Dr. Mukul is at present the tallest and most feared leader in the State, be it from within the Congress Party or the opposition. He has reduced PA Sangma to an unimaginable micro size in the last legislative assembly and Lok Sabha election. PA Sangma’s son Conrad is yet to recover from the state of shock he suffered with the defeat he faced in the last election. This time he did not have guts to fight the MDC election but chose to enter into the GHADC from the back door.
Dr. Mukul has tasted victory after victory in the last 2years of his regime in the current term. Unlike other Chief Ministerial- aspirants in the Congress party, practically speaking, he is the only one who has lots of followers/supporters within the Congress Legislature Party.
The GHADC election in 2009 was no different from this year’s. Congress never won many seats even in the 2009 election of GHADC. Voters are the main tools of democracy; they are its silent but most powerful voice! They want to remind the CM of his mistakes and alert him of his few faulty policies by their mandate recently. So, one should not try to read too much from the outcome of this year’s GHADC election results.
On the other hand, if one has to analyse the outcome of Nongstoin Bye Election, the victory of HSPDP shows that people of Nongstoin did not want the footprints of their great leader, late H. S. Lyngdoh to fade away. The Nongstoin Bye Election was also a litmus test for the HSPDP’s new leadership. The ability of new Party President, Mr. Ardent Basaiawmoit to retain the seat in spite of the fact that the party is in the opposition, clearly proves his popularity, sealing the fact that he is an emerging Gen-Next leader.
The defeat of Congress Candidate in Nongstoin Bye poll this time is not at all new or unexpected for the Party which has never won this seat right from 1972 till today. But the good news is, the party base is still intact. This shows Congress party workers of Nongstoin are comfortable with the present Chief Minister. As for UDP, the election result appears to be somewhat worrisome and it has given the party lots of goose-bumps. Its vote share has gone down drastically. So, for UDP it is a serious introspective time ere it becomes irrelevant and perishes like several other regional parties in the past.
The recent announcement made by PM Modi in Malaysia with a mention that India will open ASEAN Study Centre in Shillong shows that our State, Meghalaya is progressing and the same is being noticed by the whole world. Development can come only when there is political stability in our State and for that the Congress MLAs along with like-minded political parties which care for development of Meghalaya should work together and strengthen the hands of the Chief Minister. As he has the mandate of the people, he deserves peace of mind to work freely and take Meghalaya to greater heights. Internal rumblings in the party are not inner-party democracy but dirty politics played by some vested interests to derail development.
It’s high time to rise above petty and selfish politics!