By Fabian lyngdoh
The Khasi society today is undergoing a cultural transformation. The traditional matrilineal Kur system has broken down and exists only in name; the traditional land tenure system based on community ownership of land and natural resources has also broken down, leading to absolute private ownership by individuals or by a few founding clans of the Raid or Hima supported by the modern law, not by tradition. All members of a Kur no longer have equal right in the so called Ri-kur, which is now owned only by a few families of a certain kpoh (lineage). Individuals no longer have equal economic rights and freedom on the utilisation of land, and hence, there is a general sense of alienation and feeling of insecurity among the Khasis in their own beloved land. There is also a malady of governance in the society today due to territorial authority vacuum, as the concept of ‘land belongs to the people’ no longer has a legal embodiment.
Overall, the Khasi society today rests no longer on a functional structural balance between individual freedom and the collective order, but only on a cultural sentiment, which we may call as a ‘drum-and-flute’ sentiment, because a strong sentiment for the tribe is awakened in the heart of every Khasi by the sound of the drums and the flute. There is a belief among the Khasis that when the sound of the drums and flute attain perfect resonance (ka tangmuri ka la ih), then connection with the gods and spirits of ancestors is achieved. But today, connection with the spirits of ancestors is no longer feasible; the sentiment alone remains to keep the tribe somehow alive amidst this cultural chaos. There is a general sense of predicament among the people because of this internal cultural chaos. But the cause of this predicament is generally attributed to external agencies. Every socio-economic and political problem is believed to have been caused by some foreign elements; otherwise the society would still have been in the golden-age. The State Government itself with its democratic administrative system is perceived as one of the foreign elements which pollute the purity of the tribe. But the irony is that, everybody desperately wants to be an MLA, and a Chief Minister in that State Government.
The society is facing a leadership crisis. There is scarcity of thought leaders and statesmen, while it is flooded with party politicians. Hence, every time that a certain critical social issue arises, everybody jumps into the platform as ‘u khlawait’ (warrior) because some foreign invasion is thought to have taken place somewhere in the land, but the whereabouts of the battlefield where that battle if to be fought is unidentified. Even representatives of constitutional bodies like the District Council, feel the urge of popular attraction to enter into the fray beyond constitutional mandate.
Shrewd politicians take advantage of this feeling of insecurity and identity crisis, by strumming on the chords of cultural traditions which have lost their rhythm, to stimulate and arouse the support of the crowd for whatever cause which they might not even know. Issues like the ILP, Tenancy Bill, Village Administration Bill, MUDA, etc., though may be genuine issues that warrant serious thought and consideration, but for Meghalaya politics they only provide a situational forum for raising dust, and nothing else but dust. The real issue is an eternal grudge for some unseen enemy that is supposed to have caused all the troubles. During the movement for the ILP, I had predicted in the article ‘Facts about Problematic NGOs’ (ST. November 13, 2013) that there is no mechanism to end the issue until it goes into hibernation after the shares of the spoil are settled, or the elections are over. That was what had actually happened after the elections in February, 2014 were over.
As Dr Mukul Sangma, the present Chief Minister of Meghalaya is a Garo, he is also perceived as an external factor undermining the security of the Khasis; hence he should be removed. But there is a certain peculiarity in the Khasi political tradition. Even if a Khasi were to be the Chief Minister, the Pnars would demand that he should be from Jaiñtia Hills, the Khynriam would demand that he should be from East Khasi Hills. Likewise, the Bhois and the Marams would demand that the Chief Minister should be from their regions. There would be no end to the grudge, because ultimately every Kur would demand that the Chief Minister should be its own ‘kñi rangbah’ (chief maternal uncle).
This traditional lack of consensus on who should be the head of the State is one of the reasons why the Syiems in every Raid and Hima of the Khasis were appointed from outsider clans, and mostly from non-Khasi families who could be Bengalis, Assamias, Karbis, Lalungs, Garos, etc. So, why Dr Mukul Sangma is the Chief Minister today is not because he had assumed the office by force, or that the Garos had conspired to rule over the Khasis, but because it is in the tradition of the Khasis, not to permit another Khasi to be above the rest. The Khasis have no reason to grumble against Dr Mukul Sangma, but they have to reform their traditional mindset, and elect a legislator as intelligent, as active, and as capable as Dr Mukul Sangma, then they will have a Khasi Chief Minister. Simply wishing without the capability is fairy tale. A little nursery rhyme says, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride them.”
The fact is that the society as a whole has no goals and objectives. Everyone in politics sees only power in the corridors of the Secretariat, and money in the State Budget. The crores of Rupees of Central funding appearing in the State Budget are not seen as means of investment for infrastructural and human development, but only as sources of private income for the current year. The motive behind our State Politics is well described in the little poem:
“If I were the King of Tartary, / Myself and Me alone; / My bed would be of Ivory, / Of beaten gold My throne.”
As politics in Meghalaya starts and ends with the manipulation of the ‘cultural identity’ trump card, heroes of various hues who have no substantial leadership resources other than the means to arouse the drum-and-flute sentiment come into the fray. A great hero is one who stands in the midst of a crowd at Motphran and announces on the loudspeakers that all the ‘dkhar’ (non-Khasis) should be driven out of Ïewduh, but having no slightest idea how to do that. The greatest hero would be one who boasts that he would lead the tribe to complete independence from India, but draws every paisa of his income from the Government of India. But that is the general level of mentality we have to live with, and we have to be content with it.
Attributing all causes of cultural chaos to external factors without rational evidence leads nowhere, because it is the internal factors which pull and push the society this way and that way, thus creating a situation of dilemma. ‘Going back to the roots’, is meaningless when the so called ‘roots’ are all amiss interpreted and become hazy. It would only mean ‘going back to square one’, a situation compelled on those who have been swallowed by the biggest snake in the ladder-and-snake game of life. ‘Banking upon the roots’ is a better watchword for a society that is still striving to be self dependent; and ‘going back to the roots’ could only be a cultural luxury for a society that has fully achieved self dependence.
Human development is what the people urgently need. Human development alone would be able to sustain the Khasis as honourable human beings. Human development, laced with drum-and-flute sentiment would sustain the Khasis as human beings, and also a tribe. But the drum-and-flute sentiment alone sustains nothing but lamentations and sense of insecurity. If we are constantly in a state of mourning and lamentation for the lost of something we never had, we would not be able to see where to go. If we constantly see others as the cause of our sufferings then we would not be able to realise that the faults lie deep within us, and deny ourselves of the possible help that others around us may be able, and willing to provide in plenty. As a sensible tribe, let us keep in mind that in today’s world, the drum-and-flute sentiment alone, without human development is a regressive force that would keep the tribe in eternal limbo, whilst all other peoples would have proceeded to paradise.