Patricia Mukhim
No matter how far human beings have progressed some values remain unchanged. The Khasis have a set of aphorisms from wise elders (Ki jingsneng tymmen) now translated to English by Bijoya Sawian, which are supposed to guide their behavior. These exhortations hold good even today because they touch the core of our being. Earning an honest living by the sweat of one’s brow (kamai da ka umsyep), or the Khasi belief that life on earth is for earning righteousness through right living ( kamai ia ka hok), etc., are some basic values which encompass a human being’s earthly sojourn. These values preceded Christianity. They were like light posts that guided our lives as a largely agrarian population. With th4e advent of Christianity and its Ten Commandments based on the Jewish laws, the Khasi value system seemed to have been subsumed and subsequently lost in the cacophony of implanted religions.
When the Khasi speaks of “ka burom, ka akor” ( personal honour and etiquette) she includes in those four words the entire range of human behavior which will not degrade her human person. Alas! The Khasi value system has eroded very rapidly. Hedonism seems to be the order of the day. It seems that politics as it is practiced in this country has corrupted the Khasi mind completely. Today people have learnt that candidates in the electoral fray are ready to pay money for their votes. Earlier on, there used to be a sense of guilt and shame to negotiate with candidates about money for votes. Today no one even blinks while talking business with those who come begging for vote. “Give me money and I will give you votes,” is the standard conversation today. The niceties have long since gone out of our vocabulary.
Our elected MLAs/MDCs therefore reflect their constituents. A constituency that believes the role of the legislator is to make laws and to provide them good governance, for the collective good usually throws up a credible candidate. A constituency whose voters are largely corrupt and selfish and sell their votes for short term gains will throw up corrupt MLAs/MDCs. It always takes two to tango. So before blaming the MLA who then becomes a minister and works ceaselessly at filling up his/her coffers, let’s look at our own character flaws. What is the quality of our local village heads? If they are non-partisan and if they wish to enforce their diktat that anyone receiving money for their votes would be ostracized, I am sure the business of votes for money would be drastically reduced. Every constituency has some leaders who usually accept money from candidates for mobilizing voters and volunteers. It’s a good time for making money. In this highly polluted political climate how can we expect change in electoral behavior?
Many refer to Meghalaya as a Christian state. I have a problem with such labels because we are a secular country. Moreover, this is a rebuke to Christianity because the most corrupt MLAs/ministers are also practicing Christians. It would in fact be more appropriate to say in our context that “Christianity hides a multitude of sins.” If Christianity was giving the correct messaging how is it that regular church goers are also serious offenders whether it be in politics or the bureaucracy or business. The three are in fact inseparable. Christianity therefore is being used only as a badge of honour. It has ceased to challenge wrongdoers because those are also the main contributors to the church. One wonders whether Christianity has in many ways become the placebo for dulling our conscience. We are at a point in time when right wing politics is gaining ground. Several write-ups have appeared from members of certain churches castigating those in the current ruling dispensation in Delhi for curtailing our liberal spaces. It would have been much more beneficial for those same people to clean up the mess in their respective congregations and be more introspective, rather than engage in finger pointing. How much has the church contributed in building up a culture of political consciousness and ushering in a clean election campaign in Meghalaya? I have stated times without number that the churches have the largest number of captive audience Sunday after Sunday. Why is the behavior of this audience unchanging?
Obviously Christian values are not taken seriously by church members. Hence they continue with their waywardness the moment they step out. This is what afflicts our political culture. It is time now to reclaim the native tribal values and rekindle these in our people. Perhaps the scourge in our society today is because we have abandoned these values which once brought social integration. Religion seems to have disconnected us as a society. To completely disregard the rich traditions laid down by our forebears is to throw away the most valuable weapon we have in our personal battle towards true enlightenment.
Ironically, we Khasis speak about tradition as if it is the most important thing in our lives next to breathing. So what did our tradition teach us? Did it teach us corruption? Did it teach us extortion? Did tradition teach us rent-seeking behavior? So why is tradition paraded as a coat of arms only for claiming certain rights and privileges and not as a guide to societal behavior? The reason why anything becomes a tradition is because A: It is useful, and B: People like it. The corruption creeps in when this becomes inverted, and humanity ends up serving a tradition. This is what has happened to the Khasi society today.
We are now at the cusp of the next election and as always there is a lot of moaning and groaning that we are not getting the representatives we need to build a vibrant Meghalaya in this 21st century. The people we wrongly call ‘leaders’ are not worth their salt we say. Those in the Government are busy feathering their nests. Those outside it don’t have a sense of direction. The state is in a sort of political wilderness whether one looks at the kind of Education imparted or the Health infrastructure in place. MLAs are simply enjoying their Rs 2 crore a year bonus which they use to buy votes at the fag end of the five year tenure. This is political corruption at its worst since no MLA till date in the MUA-2 Government has given an account in black and white of how the Rs 2 crore, MLA Scheme money has been spent. Mind you in a 5 year tenure each MLA gets Rs 10 crore. Multiply this by 60 and it’s a whopping Rs 600 crore of public money used as a personal pocket money.
The MLA Scheme is meant to speed up the creation of public assets such as roads, bridges, footpaths, water supply systems, community halls, community toilets, to help repair schools etc. It is certainly not meant for buying chairs and tables or plates and pots and pans to be distributed to individuals. Our people were never so shameless as to expect their kitchen utensils from the MLA. But that is how low we have sunk. And the MLA is to blame because this is how he/she is bribing the electorate. And we the voters are allowing it to happen because of our reticence and our disinclination to ask pointed questions from our MLAs.
So are we ready now to ask for a full disclosure from every MLA about how the MLA fund of Rs 2 crore annually has been spent? And are we ready to ask the MLA to give the expenses incurred in black and white and then do a physical check to see if the claims are authentic? If we still hesitate to ask these questions then it is pointless to want change in the political system. It will not happen. Merely wanting change without working hard to bring that change is a pointless exercise. We will only be wasting our breath! So are we ready for action?