By Toki Blah
Within six months time the electorate of Meghalaya will once again be called to fulfil a democratic citizen’s mandate of electing our very own representatives to the Meghalaya State Assembly. It however does not end there. The political party or the combo of political parties that manage to come up with the largest number of seats will form the next Government in Meghalaya. The policies and activities that the Government then follows will directly affect our collective lives. for the next five years and for many years to come. It will determine how resources, natural, human and financial will be managed and used. It will impact on the type of education our children will have and their future; the health care that will be provided to all of us; how many of us get jobs or how many of us continue to remain unemployed; how many get two square meals a day and if poverty will continue to dominate our society. Why, it might even impact on our eating habits! It will definitely determine whether a state of general contentment prevails or if overwhelming worry, anxiety and fret shall rule the day. It is therefore important whom we elect and who governs us for the next five years. This is the sole reason behind elections. Fact of the matter is we have the chance to determine our own destiny. Therefore the pertinent question before the public is – how should we vote and who do we vote for?
Every voter will be presented with two choices on how to vote. One of the negative choices which has entered the system in the last 30 years or so, especially among the youth, the poor and the illiterate, is the choice based on the belief that election time is a time for making merry, have loads of fun and make a quick buck. Time for promoters of the Jaitbynriew to emerge and distribute goodies all over the place! Election time is the time for a candidate to identify himself/ herself as out of season Santa Clause in the shape of a good and generous person. It is the time when the contesting candidate is expected to provide for picnics and excursions; free drinks and mammoth car rallies; demands to feed one and all with no questions asked is now no longer an option but a prerequisite for any serious contender. The voter is expected to vote for the candidate who squanders the most. Naturally a person with limited means, however qualified, can ill afford to contest. Its money that counts, not ability nor quality. It is only the super rich, people with unlimited funds that stand a chance to win. There are always exceptions to the rule but these are becoming rarer by the day. No wonder therefore that the number of rich but dumb, voiceless, clueless and useless MLAs are increasing by the day. If truth be told, the people of Meghalaya are increasingly voting for crass businessmen out to make a quick buck than for serious and able representatives to legislate on laws for the welfare of the state and its people. We have only ourselves to blame for this and no one else.
The second option before the electorate is to challenge the notion that election time is time for distributing and making money. In the face of increasing poverty, it sounds thoroughly naive and silly to call on the common man to ignore those who have nothing else to offer but money. The poor believe that this is the only time when they can make a few quick bucks, and who can blame them? This is because of the false belief that poverty is basically due to absence and lack of money. So when the opportunity to make some easy money comes we plunge into it without thinking. Poverty in fact is measured by the opportunity or the inability to access basic socio-economic amenities that are available to ordinary citizens. Effective and affordable healthcare, meaningful education for your children, food, housing, good roads, safe drinking water and employment are the basic amenities that the common man is expected to have quick and easy access to. It comes as a shock to many that in Meghalaya a large percentage of the population are unable to access or avail of these basic amenities that some of us take for granted. It is this inhibiting inability and lack of opportunity that makes people poor, not the absence of money. That’s why in Jaintia Hills, Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills, in the heart of the coal rich mining belt, the incidence of poverty is so high and so obvious despite the existence of MLAs belonging to the super affluent class. The above basic amenities just don’t exist in the midst of all that money! The irony of the situation is the electorate’s continued rejection of quality leadership capable of lifting society from the crippling hold of poverty. Poverty in the state continues to increase because we continue to vote for useless people who have no clue how to remove poverty except how to make more money for themselves. Elected legislators who bought our votes have failed us and people must accept this reality.
For whom then should we vote who can bring development? It’s a question that people shy away from answering. The answer however is very simple. Don’t vote for money alone however tempting it might be. That’s the answer to development. Please exercise your voting right only after careful application of mind. Vote for the person you believe can bring development to you, your children and the constituency in the next five years. Don’t allow a few dalals, however self righteous and whoever they might be (they can be Rangbah Shnongs, religious leaders, community leaders, clan elders) with fistful of bank notes to force you into voting for the wrong person. When they approach you with money ask them the reason for this out of turn and sudden generosity. Most important, don’t listen to them. Depend instead on your own conscience after in-depth discussion with your friends and family members. Vote for and choose the best person and here a question arises – best of what? The best possible way to know for whom to vote is for the electorate to ask the candidate himself his plans for the future. Start with some elementary basic simple questions. What are his plans to improve the roads? To improve health care. To address the problem of education. To provide employment and sustainable livelihoods. What vision does he have for you and your community. What bills will he introduce in the Assembly to improve agriculture production in the state? Ask for facts and figures. We have had enough of nonsensical emotion. These are just a few of the issues MLAs are supposed to do for the people. There are a thousand more. Actually distributing MLA funds is just a cover-up for not being able to do anything else. Incompetent MLAs have taken shelter behind this scheme. We must realise this and challenge our candidates on the issue.
Another common advice we are given is – don’t waste your voting right! That is absolutely correct. The advisers however often forget to add that you should not sell your voting right to the highest bidder either. Both actions are wrong. First time voters need to be cautioned against the above. Suppose you are paid by someone Rs 10,000 for your vote. Sounds quite like a lot of money! But what does it actually mean? It simply means you are selling your democratic right for just Rs. 5.47 paise a day (10,000 divided by 365×5). Sometimes a vote is bought only for Rs 500 or less. So in the name of exercising your franchise you end up instead selling your democratic right for less than the price of two pieces of kwai! If you refuse to accept that you have been cheated then you’re a bigger fool than I thought you are. You have been cheated, by no less than the very person you trust and voted for and this has been happening for the last 30 years. They buy your vote so that they can steal and rob the resources of the state for the next five years. And we allow it to happen in the name of elections and in exercising our adult franchise as free citizens of this country! Buying and selling your rights has been associated with the exercise of electing our leaders. Nothing can be more shameful. The time to stop this evil practice has come. In 2018, don’t vote for the money but for the services you expect from your MLA for the next 5 years. Wise up, don’t be a fool.