By Albert Thyrniang
Soon after Rahul Gandhi repeatedly used it in the Lok Sabha on July 20 last year, ‘Jumla’ became the most searched word on Google. Today The Hindi/Urdu word is one of the commonest terms in India. Jumla’ has come to mean a ‘false’, ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unfulfilled promise’. It means a promise that is meant merely to woo voters and win elections and not with the intention to fulfil it. ‘Jumla’ is bound to be one of the latest non-English words to be incorporated into the English dictionary.
How is Jumla connected with Ksan? Well, before the link a recap of the fatal incident in Ksan may be of interest. The most unfortunate tragedy occurred on 13 December 2018, when 15 miners were trapped in an illegal mine in the remote village of Ksan in the East Jaintia Hills. Reports say five other miners narrowly escaped. A combined rescue operation involving the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force, the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy and others has been going on till date. One decomposed body was retrieved and another located inside the 370 feet deep, flooded coal mine.
The misfortune would not have happened had the BJP and NPP not promised to lift the ban on coal mining in the state. Before the Assembly elections 2018, with a view to woo coal mine owners the BJP, in its ‘Vision Document’, promised to resume mining in the state, if voted to power. ‘The Party will promote mining of mineral resources with a sense of responsibility towards the protection of the environment and regeneration of forests’, states the manifesto as part of other gargantuan promises. Similarly the NPP through its Chief, Conrad K Sangma pledged to restart coal mining if his party was given the mandate to rule the state.
On April 17, 2014, the National Green Tribunal (NGT), a government body adjudicating on environmental issues, proscribed the now internationally well known ‘rat-hole’ mining in Meghalaya. The promise made by the two parties (which eventually came to power in the state after the election) was aimed at the mining constituency that include thousands who earn their livelihoods through mining and particularly the powerful coal lobby. It was an assurance mainly to win the elections. Surely the two parties knew very well that it would be extremely difficult to convince the NGT to lift the ban because of the outdated mining technique that is most inhuman to say that least. Miners are turned into ‘rats’. Moreover the environment has been compromised to the extent of irreversibility. The BJP and the NPP knew at the back of their minds that it would be next to impossible to make the NGT reverse its previous judgment. The unrealistic promise was meant not to be broken and hence it was a sort of Jumla on the coal mine owners.
Despite the ban on rat hole mining, illegal mining continued unabated. Certainly the state government, the central government, the state and district administrations and the police were aware of the illegal mining of the black diamond. All illegal activities happened under their noses. Little effort was made to implement the NGT order. Under the pretext of transporting coal (allowed by the Supreme Court on petitions by coal mine owners) extracted prior to the ban, illegal mining of fresh coal was going on with full knowledge of all authorities up to the highest. The NGT itself and anti-mining activists repeatedly pointed that mining still continued rampantly. Two activists were brutally and almost fatally attacked by the mining mafia in November last year in Jaintia Hills while they were on a visit to gather evidence of mining in the district. The MDA government closed its eyes on illegal mining because before election its constituent parties promised resumption of the same if they formed the government. There was no moral ground to put an end to mining. An all out effort to honour the ban would have incurred the wrath of the powerful coal barons who might have funded the last election campaigns. Had the promise not been made, the government would have probably stopped mining as per the NGT’s order. Had the government tried to stop mining would the tragic incident have taken place?
Unfortunately a tragedy that killed 15 miners had to take place for everyone to take notice of the unscientific and hazardous mining that has damaged the environment beyond repair. Rivers are polluted to the point of killing aquatic species. Similarly over-ground water is unfit for consumption. The soil too must be gravely polluted. In many areas hills and houses are in danger of sinking because what is left underneath are hollows created by abandoned mines.
Ksan is the cry of the earth that is misused and abused, exploited and ill treated for greed rather than for need. Ksan is a tragedy in waiting. Ksan has another message to voters: don’t believe in Jumla promises by political parties and politicians. Be discerning electors. Know what promises are realistic and achievable and what are not. Often gullible voters believe when they are promised the moon only to be left disappointed and disillusioned. Their votes go wasted.
By now the Indian voters should have become wiser after having seen many Jumlas in 2014. By now we are convinced that the promise to bring back millions of black money stashed in wealthy countries abroad, the pledge to deposit 15 lakh rupees into the bank accounts of every citizen, the assurance to create two crore jobs annually, the vow to uproot black money, the declaration to deport all illegal immigrants were all election gimmicks. The people of India were tricked.
Not even realizable promises, such as providing basic amenities like electricity, water, toilets to everybody, the passing of The Women’s Reservation Bill that will give 33 per cent reservation to women in parliament and state assemblies, the assertion for a minimum of 50 per cent profits for farmers, the creation of a Lokpal, the making of a bullet train network and others have become a reality. ‘Acche Din’, ‘Minimum Government and Maximum Governance’, ‘Swachh Bharat’, etc are but catchy and pleasing slogans.
And then on the eve of yet another general election extraordinary promises have found the legal route. The 10% Reservation Bill which was hastily passed in both house of Parliament and given presidential assent has now become a law. According to this youngest law, 10% reservation in government higher educational institutions and jobs will be reserved for economically backward upper castes or general category that exclude Dalits, OBC and ST/SC. Eligible beneficiaries are individuals whose family income is less than 8 lakh per annum, have less than five acres of agricultural land and own a residential flat of 1000 sq feet or even larger. Estimates say those who qualify for this reservation constitute 85-95 per cent of the population. This is blizzard. It is reservation to abolish reservation for backward categories through the back door. In spite of public knowledge that the law might not pass legal scrutiny the NDA Government showed urgency in clearing the Bill like never before. No doubt, this Bill has become a law in record time to entice the targets – the huge population prior to the election in March-April this year.
Closer home, the North East has been on the boil due to Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016. This bill too aims to win over the large number of Hindus from Bangladesh who are residing in Assam and West Bengal, lakhs of whom do not even have any documents. Before the Bill is passed in Rajya Sabha, Amit Shah, the BJP president has already thundered in West Bengal that all Hindus from Bangladesh will be given Indian citizenship. Five years ago in the same state the Prime Minister screamed that all Muslim Bangladeshis in West Bengal would have to pack their bags once his party formed the government in the state. In Assam too the same false promise was made in 2014. After five year no one has carried his bags back to Bangladesh.
Just to capture power unscrupulous political parties and politicians promise the moon and the stars. It is up to the voters not to be taken for a ride.