By H H Mohrmen
The battle lines are drawn as each camp is ready with their candidates and waiting only for the Election Commission to blow the bugle and announce the dates. Except for the BJP and the NPP, the other parties have already shared the complete or partial list of their candidates with the voters. The reason for the two parties’ failure to come up with a complete list of all sixty candidates to contest on their party ticket is because there are in the list the names of candidates who are MLAs in the present house and who are waiting for an appropriate time to defect to the new party of their choice. When asked why they were not able to come up with a complete list of candidates to contest from the party the standard answer is that there are technical problem that need to be addressed before the list is made public. But everybody knows that the technical problem is to do with those candidates who wish to avoid the anti-defection law which enjoins them to remain in the party from which they were elected.
Never in the history of this young state have we seen so many MLAs and those especially from the ruling party, shifting their allegiance to a new party before the elections. The situation appears critical for the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA). It looks like the MUA- II is a sinking ship and every MLA from the Khasi Jaintia hills region is abandoning the ship to save themselves from drowning. Although the parties are yet to make public the names of candidates who have defected from the MUA II alliance but it is an open secret that altogether seven incumbent Congress MLAs have deserted the Congress camp and are waiting in the wings of time to join their new parties. It is obvious that the five Congress MLAs are Rowell Lyngdoh, Prestone Tynsong, Sniawbhalang Dhar, Ngaitlang Dhar and Commingone Ymbon who are all in favour of joining the NPP.
The mass defection of Congress MLAs is going to deal a severe blow to the chances of the Party to come up as the single largest party in the Assembly, post the 2018 election. To add salt to the wounds of the Congress, the decision of three other senior MLAs to hang their boots and call it a day will also have a huge impact on the performance of the Party. One does not need to do their maths to come out with the answer that the Congress is losing nine MLAs even before the election date is declared. The only good thing that emerges out of this is that the new Congress candidates are fresh, well educated and some have experience in public service. But it remains to be seen if the retired Congress MLAs will be able to help their replacement win the seats that they have represented for many years, or, if the new entrants to politics will become giant killers and defeat the defected MLAs.
The other development is that almost all the independent candidates from Khasi & Jaintia region who have supported the Congress led MUA II government in the last five years are also abandoning ship. Two of the independent MLAs Stephenson Mukhim and Hopefull Bamon will officially join the NPP and two other independent MLAs Justine Dkhar and Robinus Syngkon are biding their time to join the BJP. The last development which will be music to the ears of the BJP supporters is the news that Sanbor Shullai and AL Hek are also likely to join the saffron party. Like the other MLAs these two are also fence –sitters and just biding their time to officially declare their (fleeting?) loyalties.
With Sanbor Shullai leaving the NCP, the party is going to die a natural death in the state because all along it was he who had kept the party alive in Meghalaya. The major regional party the UDP also stands to lose one MLA and another MDC who is a habitual defector. In his chequered political life this man has been a member of almost all the political parties in the state. Remington Pynrope like other defectors will have to wait for the right time, while HS Shylla being an MDC is free to join any party off his choice.
Interestingly if one does a study on the recent political developments one will see that all defectors are from the Khasi & Jaintia community only. Hence two questions cry out for answers. Question number one which is in everybody’s mind is, “Will people re-elect the MLAs who have defected from one party to another?” The defected MLAs especially those who were at the helm of power in the MUA II government cannot shed themselves of the responsibility of being part of the cabinet which decided on the policies and programs of the government. It is not child’s play that when you decide to quit, you walk out of the game and put the blame squarely on someone else’s shoulder. Good or bad, the kind of government we had in the last five years is because of the kind of MLAs we sent to the Assembly and whether it is the bouquet or the brick bat, the MLAs from the treasury benches have to accept it gracefully.
Re-electing the same MLAs amounts to supporting the idea that it is fine to merely change the bottle even if we keep sipping the same old wine! Because all the MLAs who have defected are from one community does the entire brouhaha also give us an insight into the general trait that we possess as a community? The truth is if our MLAs are fickle minded, inconsistent, unreliable and adopt a flip-flop stance what does it say about the people who elected them? What kind of people are we?
People are also talking about change in the state but the question is what kind of change? If the people of the state want change can it happen if the same people are elected as MLAs? People of Meghalaya cannot expect to see change happen if they continue to vote the same people to the August House again and again. It reflects on our own fickle character and our inability to judge and elect people who are worthy of our sacred trust.
The other Congress MLA to desert the party is the supremo of the newly formed political party in the state – the PDF. This particular party has its own characteristics. It has the maximum numbers of MDCs contesting on the party’s ticket and except for PN Syiem the other candidates are already elected representative from the Khasi Hills District Council.
Obviously the political parties in the state are battle ready and are waiting only for the time to hit the election trial. The onus is now on the voters to decide the kind of MLA they will vote so that they will get the kind of government they deserve.