By Albert Thyrniang
The resignation of Martin M. Danggo as MLA and from the Congress Party has created quite an interest in the state. Highly critical views have been heard. At the same time the former veteran Congress legislator has also won hearts. There have also been some fall-outs and these ramifications seem to be more serious than expected. Let us look at what the decision of the former 12th Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly to quit his seat has done so far.
First of all his choice to temporarily cease being an MLA and more importantly his swap to another political party has led to the creation of Ranikor civil sub-division. The new born sub-division was inaugurated by the second in command in the government, Prestone Tynsong on July 10 last. While everyone is happy that Ranikor civil sub-division has come into being no convincing and logical reason has emerged as to why the MLA had to resign and join another party? It is unanimously accepted that Ranikor deserved to be upgraded into a civil sub-division, then why bring politics into it? Why did the Government ( read NPP) have to tell Danggo, ‘you have to resign as MLA and contest on NPP ticket so that your demand for Ranikor will be granted’. Ranikor should have been made civil sub-division on merit alone. That would have been statesmanship.
There is no need to mince words. Danggo has gained maximum political mileage by his ‘sacrificing and selfless’ decision. One of Meghalaya’s most experienced politicians, the former PWD (Roads) Minister who had been an MLA uninterruptedly since 1998 and has been in power for the most part of his political career wants to leave a legacy behind him. Praises are lavished and heaped upon him declaring him as the ‘man of Ranikor civil sub-division’, awarding him the ‘Man of the Match’ and enthroning him as the ‘Raja of Ranikor’. These sky-high eulogies are sheer rhetoric. Has anyone resigned as MLA for creation of a civil sub-division? Did the MLA of Pynursla sacrifice anything when it was formed as civil sub-division on February 15, 2017? The ‘sacrifice’ of the then PHE minister came only after the inauguration of his civil sub-division and before the last Assembly Elections. This takes us to the next point.
The move of the Government on Ranikor has made other MLAs line up to demand for creation of more civil sub-divisions and other similar claims. Mawsynram, Mawlai, Umroi, Pathar-khmah and Rongjeng are in the queue. The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly went a step further to demand that Sohra and Mairang be upgraded to districts. In the meantime the GSU has lobbied for Dadenggre civil sub-division to be bifurcated from West Garo Hills District. The list will only multiply. Following Danggo’s example and the Ranikor logic the MLAs of the above constituencies are assured of their demand if they resign as MLAs and probably contest on the ruling party’s flag. We will soon have by-elections in all the above constituencies after the new civil-subdivisions and districted are inaugurated (pun intended). The MDA government will then be known as the ‘Civil sub-division and district creating Government’.
Ranikor has created a rift between the NPP and the UDP. Upset about Danggo’s resignation and his joining the NPP, the major coalition partner, UDP, on record, stated that it was never consulted. Its chief, Donkupar Roy, who happens to be the Speaker of the Legislature, was made to accept the resignation in Kolkata (that came through a messenger). He termed Danggo’s switching party, ‘legalised defection’. The party then lost no time in declaring the candidate against the de facto NPP candidate. The Khasi Hills regional party is also lobbying for Pius Marwein of the UDP as the common candidate of all ‘anti-NPP’ parties to ensure the defeat of the Ranikor strongman. The rift could be extended to South Tura as the Garo Hills UDP is keen to put up a challenger against Conrad Sangma, the very person the UDP installed as the Chief Minister in March last.
Speaking about South Tura by-election, it is obviously early days but it is safe to say that the Chief Minister and his supporters desire not just a win but a win by the biggest margin. Being at ground zero one hears names doing the rounds, but the person who will affect the winning margin of the CM will be Billykid A Sangma, the runner-up in the last election. My primary sources have confirmed that the former Tura legislator has decided to opt out of election this time and extended his support to the CM.
Leaving South Tura aside for the time being, we return to Ranikor. Ranikor has also exposed the ‘disunity’ among the MDA coalition partners. All is not well within the alliance. After the UDP, the PDF’s supremo, PN Syiem held a series of consultation to promote himself as the regional party consensus candidate. Finding few takers, his campaign for regional unity against the NPP in Ranikor hastened his downfall as Chief Executive Member (CEM) of Khasi Hills Automomous District Council (KHADC). The NPP MDCs withdrew support to him in the Council. He threatened that the four PDF MLAs would pull out of the MDA government. To his surprised he faced the same unwanted and embarrassing situation that Ardent Basaiawmoit did months ago. The PDF legislators defied him and pledged their support to the Chief Minister. To cut the story short, 17 MDCs rebelled against him and he had to ‘cowardly’ resign as CEM without facing the scheduled trial of strength at the emergent special session of the Council.
The drama in the KHADC will continue but let us answer the questions as to why UDP and PDF (and other regional parties) are making all out effort not to let Danggo have a free run. They are compelled to retain their congested and limited political space. They are worried they are losing ground in their own turf. Congress is not their only rivals. They must be concerned with the emergence of the NPP as the ‘national’ party that has further shrunk their space. It is now a question of survival and relevance.
In 2013 the UDP secured 225,676 votes with a 17.1% vote share and won 8 seats but in 2018 they had only 182,491 voters with 11.6% vote share that fetched them just 6 seats. The HSPDP who managed to get 55,049 voters with a vote share of 4.2% had 4 MLAs in 2013 while in 2018 though their voters marginally increased to 84,011 with the corresponding vote share of 5.3% they actually won just 2 seats. The new entrant, People’s Democratic Front (PDF) with 128,413 voters (8.2% vote share) and 4 seats ate into the votes of UDP and HSPDP besides the Congress, of course. But the worry for the regional party particularly in Khasi Hills (which obvious they don’t openly acknowledge right now) is the NPP. From zero seat in 2013 they went up to 8 in 2018 in Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills. If they don’t unitedly fight Ranikor the NPP will further dent their space. Therefore, from the regional parties ‘perspective it is understandable if political compulsion is preferred over government’s stability.
I see also an unwritten trend. The present leadership of the regional parties do not command respect and reverence from their elected representatives. The HSPDP MLAs have already confirmed it when they defied the diktat of their boss, Ardent Basaiawmoit and joined the MDA government in February rendering his leadership untenable. The PDF MLAs too probably disregarded the threat of their Chief, PN Syiem to withdraw from the Conrad-led government by meeting the CM and pledging their support to him. That Basaiawmoit and Syiem lost their own elections did not help their cause. The UDP too may not be immune to its MLAs undermining the authority of their leadership. Except Donkupar Roy, the other most visible leaders of UDP too have lost election.
So the point is that even if Ranikor has exposed a crack between the NPP and the regional parties, the stability of the State Government does not seem to have affected. The MLAs of the regional parties prefer that the government stay rather than go. They prefer to remain ministers rather than ordinary legislators. Even if the difference with the NPP comes to a point when their leadership issue an ultimatum for them to withdraw from the government I get a guts feeling that they will defy that order. They could even defect to the NPP. Sound weird? Not music to the ears of the leaders of regional parties! Ranikor might well strengthen the NPP.