By Benjamin Lyngdoh
The stage is set, the die is rolled and the picture is clear. It is just a matter of days before ‘election encounter’ day and in time the dust and dirt concerning the squabbling for thrones that commenced a month ago will die down. Meghalaya is on the verge of witnessing its very own political ‘game of thrones’. Every candidate and party in general have positioned themselves with plans and promises for the masses. Combinations and prospects of coalitions have already been arrived at tacitly. However, all of this might change drastically with the wide possibility of deceit and deception and political back-stabbing. The important point is this; in all of this gamesmanship, the masses are not in the picture. We are simply pawns being used by the political class and their cronies; all for their wellbeing. The masses are the means and not the end. In general, it has been that way in Meghalaya and by all current indications it will continue to be so in future. The election plans and manifestoes of the parties, the religion factor and so forth are all indications of that. The worst is yet to come! Accordingly, I place the following pointers –
Firstly, every political party needs to reach out and market to the masses their objectives and action plans. Here, a manifesto becomes a critical document. It is a ‘bible of promises’ of a party. As such, a manifesto is a crucial document that has the power to convince voters to buy into those promises. However, these days a manifesto is as good as a piece of junk. As appealing as it might seem on viewing, all that enthusiasm dies a natural death with the passage of the first year of governance. Truth being, no one takes it seriously anymore. This is a crying shame! We have reduced a ‘sacred political document’ into a laughing farce. Concurrently and across political parties, their manifestoes do not carry much weight with the masses. In fact, they are more of a leisure reading. They bring more pessimism instead of optimism. They are being shrugged off as being unimportant and sometimes as being a joke. Thus, the age for manifestoes is over. And calling it a ‘vision document’ again is being too ludicrous! What the voters need is an ‘action plan’. The parties must stop preaching phrases such as ‘we will create jobs’ or ‘we will improve education’. The argument must shift to ‘how we will create jobs/improve education’. The presentation and the discussions must be on the executive aspects of the objective/promise. This will make the parties really put their heads together, as placing an ‘action plan’ is never an easy thing to do. All in all, this might just revive the interest of the voters as far as election-related documents are concerned.
Secondly, although it is unconstitutional to call any state a ‘Christian state’, but somehow here in Meghalaya we seem to take pride in it (for whatever reasons). Presently, this has backfired on us. Point being, unlike this time, religion/faith has never been an election issue in Meghalaya. Candidates and political parties never took positions in the name of religion. Now the chicken has come home to roost. The serious entry of the BJP into our state has set the cat amongst the pigeons. Only time will tell ‘who’ is the cat! In relation to this, I would like to draw attention to my article titled ‘Beef tokenism’ ( ST April 24, 2015). There I made a veiled opinion on ‘how the BJP will be using this very same “beef party” for entry into state politics’. The general feeling is that the non-tribal votes will all go to the BJP. On this backdrop, are the so called secular parties jittery? Are the masses scared? Looking at the discourse in the media (print/electronic) and the chatter on the streets, it does seem so. This has further led to the church into discreetly and openly ‘shouting out’ for secular forces. Mind you and at least in the context of Meghalaya, the word ‘secular’ is akin to anti-BJP. Clearly, there are better personal and quieter ways of intervening rather than ‘shouting out,’ and such ways are most effective! Be that as it may, religion/faith is a clear and present issue in this election. That way, the only one and last non-election issue for ages has suddenly raised its ugly head. How the tables have turned!
Thirdly, money is always a factor in elections. This is an open secret. People will not say it out loud but they will do (give/take) money. Well, every now and then there is a report of election money being confiscated by the authorities but this is just the tip of the iceberg. The mountain heap of an iceberg is there quietly but openly present in the underbelly of the ocean. There are two aspects of the money-power play here. Firstly, it’s the voter’s level. These days candidates and parties are openly distributing money; both in cash and in kind. Sometimes it feels like an election is more about these petty gains alone; a blanket, a utensil, a television, furniture, notes of 500/1000/2000/3000 and so forth. What about the five years? Gradually it seems like it is skipping our thoughts and interpretation and sadly, no one seems to care much anymore. Is this the type of society we are going to build?
The winner in this situation is the candidate. This is because he/she knows that they basically have to feed the voters just once in five years; beyond that it is going to be a pretty cozy life. Secondly, it’s the party’s level. Although all parties involve themselves in money games; from the prospect of forming a government, I would like to focus more on the BJP. The truth is that the BJP is positioning itself to do a Manipur and Goa here in Meghalaya as well. In those other states, the BJP was not the single largest party post election; however, they did form and are still leading the coalition governments. So when the BJP national leaders said that ‘if the BJP wins 12-15 seats they will form and lead the next government’, take their word for it; we already have two examples.
Fourthly, as if money play was not bad enough, now we have excessive violence and intent to cause harm in elections. Brawls are common; there was a case of stabbing; deathly devices being detected as well. Sadly, we are venturing into a situation so bad that there is murder in elections. I join voices with the many to express condolences to the family and near and dear ones of J.N. Sangma and his three aides. Our elections have never crossed such violent limits before and whoever is responsible for it must take a long and hard look at themselves and where they are leading our democratic process. Politics is about debate and dissent. It is about arguments. Battles are fought in the mind and in ideas. Encounters are done through a verbal duel of facts and wits. Clearly, we are losing all of that. Hence, if this cycle of violence continues then it will not be long before we reach the violent levels of Kerala, West Bengal etc. Do we want to be as such?
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. However and even more scary is that ‘lack of power reeks insanity’. It is this insanity that has led to the murder of this candidate. Very sad and disturbing! As such, if this insanity is not curtailed and mitigated our elections might have just seen a low dive into violent politics and this is just the beginning of the worse that is yet to come. .
Lastly, there are many pretenders and contenders in this ‘game of thrones’. All will be unfold as the game itself unfolds. Be that as it may, one thing is for sure; we can expect a lot of turmoil post election results. The Congress will not give up its bastion so easily and the BJP is now like a Chinese dragon spitting fire everywhere. The regional parties are also in the picture as a loose alliance. Overall, this might just be the most interesting election in recent times and who will come up on top is indeed anybody’s guess. For all we know, the next five years will be lost in forming and toppling and reforming governments with the masses being mere insignificant spectators.
(The Author teaches at NEHU)