Patricia Mukhim
What happened to Agnes Kharshiing and Amita Sangma on November 8 this year will be remembered as the darkest day in the history of the much fantasised Khasi matrilineal society which the world portrays as, “a society where women rule the roost; where women are safe and secure.” This is a farce repeated by a few who wish to paint a nice, soft, cosy picture of the state of Meghalaya and of its people. The truth is something far grimmer and gloomier than we care to admit. The kind of abusive language used on social media today to revile women activists would shock the hell out of those BBC journalists out to portray the Khasi society as the last surviving ‘La La Land’ – a make-believe world right out of a movie. Sorry, this lie must be busted. It’s time to do a reality check! Agnes Kharshiing was attacked by a mob of 35-40 people. Can anyone believe it? No, not especially the parachuting journalists who come here to generally have a good time but must also tell their bosses they are doing a story about this “Oh so wonderful world where woman is queen.” But someone has to shatter their romantic notions about this society and tell them to pull down those soft, mushy stories they have written about Khasi matriliny.
So yes, while the rest of the world has the right to their assumptions, we who live this life here must get real and speak out the truth as it is today. And the truth is that women are constantly raped, attacked and even killed and their killers are even today not in jail. We have a rotten policing system that even till date has not been able to round up the mob leaders and their paymasters who instigated the attack on Agnes. Personally, and I believe there are many like me, the Meghalaya Police is a hugely compromised force. Compromised by their greed; compromised by their collusion with politicians and the coal mafia and compromised because they can never get at the root of any crime. When was the last time that Meghalaya Police got a criminal put behind bars through diligent investigation? I cannot recall any court verdict to that effect. Every case just falls between the cracks because no one, repeat no one ever holds the police accountable. The few Policemen that still have their scruples intact are unable to break through the culture of “Delay, Denial and Deflect.” Several FIRs filed against hate-mongers on Facebook who have given a call to kill murder and maim the activists and dissenting voices in the State have got off scot-free. They continue to revel in their new found warrior roles and peddle their hate-mongering day after day after day. And all we get to hear are lame excuses that Facebook goes by a certain format and only when words like ‘terrorist,’ ‘terror’ et al are mentioned does Facebook act. As if giving a call to kill or harm someone is not an act of terror!
In India we are not used to looking for outcomes and value for money. Anywhere else, someone in the top ranks of the Police would have been held answerable and/or lost their job for the attack on Agnes Kharshiing because it suggests (a) failure of the Police intelligence to detect that trouble was brewing and a mob of 35-40 people were out to waylay the RTI activist (b) The arrest happened only 24 hours or later after the incident (c) Till date the woman with the steel-topped Maruti Gypsy who waylaid the vehicle that Agnes and Amita were travelling in has been booked even for questioning. Now talking about outcomes, let us take a look at how much money is going out of the exchequer per month to pay the Meghalaya Police. The present strength of the Police is 10,956 personnel (inclusive of officers and men). Since the salaries at the top levels are higher while constables get between 25000-30,000 Rs a month if we take an average salary of 30,000 per month per personnel the amount works out to a whopping Rs 32.86 crores a month. The amount could be more but one is unable to get the exact figures today. Then think of the other perks that officers enjoy! That’s a huge sum that taxpayers are paying the Police for outcomes that are hardly visible and where crimes in districts like East Jaintia Hills have grown exponentially.
And all this happens because all of us, as civil society don’t probe, don’t want to ruffle the feathers of the Police higher ups; prefer to be in a cosy relationship with them and refuse to call them to account. We only swear at them silently because they have consistently failed us. As I said earlier, a few good, sincere officers can hardly make a difference because they too are afraid of crossing swords with their seniors and many prefer to toe the line of the political masters rather than stand up to them. I have written this in the past and reiterate that it would be a great example if one brave police officer were to stand up against the establishment. But that of course will never happen. The only policemen that we salute are the poor traffic police who are the only visible souls around doing their duties, inhaling poison.
Now coming to the point of my article about whether this generation of venerable citizens floating in this Abode of Clouds believe they have a responsibility to the younger generation to create a future for them, the answer seem to be, “No,” they don’t. None of us are standing up to the coal mafia that is destroying a whole eco-system that sustains us. Imagine 3,800 coal mines in one district –East Jaintia Hills! Where do you think that coal is being mined? Is it not on virgin forest land? So they claim that they are digging coal in their own land. Since when did forests belong to private parties when these natural resources have been given to us by our ancestors as common property resources? What right do 3,800 mine owners have to pollute the environment with a human population of 1, 22,436, residing in 206 villages? Don’t all these people have equal claim to clean water, clean air and the right to also claim what their ancestors left behind?
These coal mine owners may be tribals but their mindsets and methods are as greedy and vicious as any mercenary carrying out extractive mining anywhere in the world and without the basic corporate social responsibility. How many of those millionaire mine owners have set up a school or a hospital for their own people? What have they ploughed back to the environment? Will they be tasked with cleaning up the toxic rivers? All they have thought about are to swell up their private pockets and their bank accounts so they can send their kids to the best schools outside the poisonous hell they have created for others. I can’t think of any other more selfish enterprise than the coal mining happening in Meghalaya which has created a nouveau –riche, unthinking class whose lives begin and end with how much coal to extract and how much money will come in. This class has no allegiance to tribe or tribal values. Hence they don’t even cringe when attacking a woman and leaving her to the elements! And they have bought over so many individuals and groups who echo their evil chant that, “those who intrude into their private affairs deserve to die.”
Meanwhile, if there is a next generation beyond 2050 their future is as bleak and black as the coal that fires up the evil imagination of the people who claim ownership over it and over this earth. What a cataclysmic future that would be! Meanwhile, those not subscribing to coal or limestone mining (which is equally horrific) are doomed to be “outliers.” As for repairing the criminal justice system I see no hope at the end of the tunnel, only more wretchedness as some policemen turn rogues. What else do you call policemen who instead of booking wrongdoers who illegally transport coal instead let them pass, on payment of an agreed sum! If this is not the last straw then I wonder what is!