By Lakhan Kma
Assembly elections in Meghalaya are just about a year away. The big question is what lies ahead for Meghalaya post-2018 Assembly Election? In order to judge the present Congress led MUA-II Govt. one will require a comprehensive report card of last 5 years of governance. Obviously, it should include-the total kilometers of new roads constructed,number of villages receiving the perennial drinking water, number of new villages electrified, total number of new jobs created both in Govt and private sector for the unemployed youth of the State, health care facilities in nooks and corners of Meghalaya and so on.
The fact remains that there is lack of development or should I say the snail pace of development in our State of Meghalaya. Roads, electricity, potable water, basic health care facilities, unemployment, etc. continues to be wanting across the State. Job prospects remain a never ending cause of agony among our educated unemployed youth. One can’t stop but wonder about the outcome of all the foreign trips undertaken by our ministers and officials at the cost of public exchequer to supposedly gain expertise in agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, biotechnology, and so on and so forth. None of us heard about the State government’s initiative to set up or facilitate the setting up of such industries to utilize their so-called ‘earned expertise out of foreign trips’ which would have generated employment.The only thing that was offered to us was the dumbest idea of having our own ‘Times Square’ which is now lost in time.
Congress party will carry the anti-incumbency factors of MUA-I and MUA-II. It is now up to the opposition to capitalize on that and exploit it. However, the opposition parties which were on and off with the Congress party will also have to take their share of blame for what happened in the last 10 years or so. As opposition parties, they have failed to expose the Government misdeeds which includes the education scam involving minister and officials; the security and safety of women; child abuse, illegal transfer of land to cement companies, recovery of power dues, etc. They have not been able to strongly challenge the Government on corruption and lack of development. They did not display a strong urge to educate the mass on corrupt practices of the Government nor on its lack of policies in various facets of development in Meghalaya. I do not remember any instance in the last about 10 years or so where the opposition parties took to the streets to fight for common public cause. After winning elections, our representatives never left their comfort zones even for a great public cause thereby allowing the treasury bench for a free ride every time.
To add to our woes, our State Government has been trying to outsmart and downplay the credibility of Central Government on flimsy grounds, thereby spoiling the cordial State-Central relationship necessary for progress of our State.In a federal system like India, the fact is that the State Government which is not self-sufficient financially cannot afford to antagonize the Central Government for the sake of personal or party’s ego. Ours is a classic example what a leadership of the State Government should not do. The end result is the people miss the developmental packages which are vital for overall development of the entire State.
In the current desperate scenario of Meghalaya, to foresee the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)as the alternative to the Congress party and the regional parties, is no rocket science. With the landslide victory in recent elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP) among others, are we expecting a wind of change in Meghalaya too? UP is particularly a case important to dwell upon. Winning 312 out of 403 seats only goes on to indicate that the voters are now only interested in overall development of their State and are least bothered about caste, creed, religion and appeasements to a particular section of the society. If it can happen in so-called polarized society of UP, why not in more or less cohesive society of Meghalaya?The voters, particularly the youthof the State are equally hungry for their share of development and wants to see things happen at a fast pace. They are ready to punish any Government which displays indecisiveness, insensitivity and lack of vision for the State. The people of the State are solely banking on overall development of the State for everyone in the months and years ahead. They should be ready to welcome and embrace any party with a new road map of development in Meghalaya.Expectations are sky high to see the true sense of development, be it affordable education & health care, clean governance, connectivity, employment opportunities, clean environment, etc.
For a common man and a neutral observer like me who is concerned only with the holistic development of the State, BJP is like any other party or may be slightly better with a strong nationalist outlook. Even in the fast changing world, the sense of pride of being an Indian first than anything else cannot be diluted. Nobody is above our beloved Motherland India or Bharat or what we call ‘Ka Ri India jong ngi.’ Since 2014, apart from the Central Government the BJP/or the alliance NDA have been able to rule in 17 States/UT across the country as compared to Congress/UPA (7) and others (7). It roughly means that BJP/NDA is ruling more than 61% of the total population of the country. Indeed, we don’t have to go too far. Assam and Manipur are neighbouring examples of much needed change for good. Under the leadership of Narendra Modi, people are buying the idea of inclusive growth without any appeasement. Elections after elections across the country, it has been proven that the people are ready, at least, to try out the vision of the Prime Minister rather than maintaining status quo which is a progressive sign even for the state of Meghalaya. As along as the BJP does not tamper with the spirit of the Constitution of our country, which they have not done so far, and does not meddle with one’s preference to eat, wear and worship as guaranteed under the Constitution, it is emerging as a party with a difference.
It is indeed a clarion call to all Meghalayans to rise above petty issues of race or religious identities and embrace the idea of inclusive growth for all Meghalayans in the near future.
(The writer teaches in NEHU, Shillong and can be reached at [email protected]).