By Aristotle Lyngdoh
After more than forty years of statehood, the expectation and desire to see stable and reliable regional governance is just like a dream in a fictional play. The primary reason for this is because regional parties will never be able to forge a united front and the situation that prevents such alliance is purely because political leaders are taking issues in a personal way and discard the interest of the state and its citizens. And what makes them think in this manner is perhaps because their level of understanding and common sense is very poor therefore they cannot downplay and suppress the ego and attitude which is a common trait amongst the mediocre and uneducated. Another factor that contributes to this dilemma is also because of the educational background of the person.
The general election to the state legislative assembly is almost due with few months left for fresh elections. Those who are captivated and tempted by the luxurious lifestyle of being an MLA or minister are anxiously awaiting and gearing themselves through various tricks and tactics to get a share of this cake irrespective of who comes to power. That hardly matters to those. Many are still thinking that the MLA’s job is simply helping the lower income group who are daily labourers, illiterate villagers or market hawkers by providing them with some financial support or assistance on how to obtain old-age pension, school fees and some other compensation available for BPL categories. Some are dumping foodstuff in the homes of bereaved families especially the poor ones for feasting by neighbours, friends and relatives at least for three days. Then we have dropout freaks cum contractors with a coterie of their labourers who are joining political parties and trying to elevate themselves to the position where they think they can meddle with the MLA Schemes after duping their own mentor. There is another group of aspirants who are government employees with no more scope for promotion are now quitting their jobs and joining political parties for the sake of contesting elections. Now an important question arises here which a vigilant public should question when a ‘just retired’ government servant contests election. I feel that proper investigation should be initiated as to how such persons are getting political support base in a particular constituency if not by misusing the departmental position and schemes in order to gain political mileage. Political parties who encourage such candidates are equally guilty and not free from such indulgence in mal-practices and corruption. If the people want a corruption free-governance, then they should consider these things and never entertain such candidates.
If more and more of these classes of leaders are coming forward to represent the people in the legislative process, then we are entering into the darkest hours of our political journey. Instead, people need to be brought out from poverty and BPL status through meaningful policies and programs. A state and society should strive to become self-reliant in all aspects in order to take care of its own citizens right from job creation to resource mobilization and this should be the goal of governance. This can only be achieved if political leadership assumes a new role which is noble and by putting the people and their wellbeing as a priority to the extent that if there is a better legislator he should be given a chance
A voice for regional alliance has been echoed and seems to have gained some momentum. But the genuine alliance will be only fruitful if some sacrifice is made in order to seal the union. But the sad thing is that leaders of political parties are seeing this alliance as an opportunity for them to become Chief Minister or to hold some key portfolio and therefore they straight away jump to seat sharing and adjustment. If this is the approach, then there is no hope for any regional governance in the coming election. A concrete alliance cannot be achieved in a fortnight just because two leaders have decided to forge an alliance. In fact it should penetrate and be internalized by people at the grass root level and by sensitizing each and every person on specific matters pertaining to the state’s legislations and policies for the people, that can be achieved only through regional governance. By declaring that a Chief Minister should be from Shillong is ridiculous and illogical. After all who ever becomes Chief Minister will have to reside in Shillong. In the same manner the President or Prime Minister need not be from Delhi only.
On the other hand if the alliance is strictly for candidates or respective parties to win the seat as it appears and the leader of the largest group will be the Chief Minister, then another blunder is being committed by befooling the general public. At the end only few will benefit. The idea that HS Shylla has spearheaded – namely the movement for regional alliance is primarily for the interest of the people of the state as he has rightly cited an example about the “Three-flag Government” of 1978 that has brought in the Land Transfer Act. There was a great difference between the then regional alliance and the present conception for an alliance. Those were the days where the alliance was orchestrated by the indigenous leaders having a cause for the state and the people to fulfill the incomplete task of the statehood movement. Whereas any alliance conceptualized now seems to be more party -centric.
The problem with our political backwardness is because we have not been able to produce political leaders who can take the entire state forward including each and every citizen. What we have so far are only have knights and bishops who are trying to play the role of a king and queen in a game of chess. And therefore, nobody is interested in the issues affecting the general public and the future of the children of the state such as education, economic growth. All that has been promoted is a localized issues or agenda pertaining only to a certain section in the society like border dispute, MUDA encroachment and some others problem that any particular constituency is facing. Perhaps because of this mentality and concept a candidate continues to get re-elected again and again from the same constituency even if he is visionless. Another undisputed fact is that every MLA wants to a Chief Minister one day or the other so that he or she can divert the entire development fund to his/ her constituency.
Another hindrance to good and effective governance is the foolishness of political parties to harness and nurture the concept of “winnability”. This is a hypocrite concept and practice that has deeply ruined the scope for good and effective governance. Yet another mistake that has been committed is the recognition ascribed to dropouts who are NGO’s leaders by certain section of the society. What good do we expect from such political cadres, a lemon can never turn into an orange. They will definitely undermine the initiative of any good prospect of the movement. Our student organization is not able anymore to fight any issues in a noble and logical way through appropriate platform and forum. Every agitation and protest is preceded by violence like an arrogant ancient outlaw who enjoys traumatizing innocent people. We the Khasis believe that the blood of the innocent will not die in vain but groan before the maker. If we resort to these kinds of tactics, we endanger and invite unprecedented wrath to ourselves including our bloodline or family members. And by destroying assets whether private or government, we impoverish ourselves and minimize the opportunity for growth. What we need now is ‘The second generation-hill state type of movement’ led by intellectuals who are men of vision and of sound calibre because there is pending unfinished task of that hill state movement.
The purpose of this writing is to remove the dross that is associated with the political leadership so that it will pave the way for statesmanship type of leadership.
