Editor,
The great Indian tamasha (elections) in our state had started where politicians and political parties are training their guns at each other and trading charges as they prepare for the District Councils elections. It is amusing to see supporters of different politicians dancing and singing at the time of filing of nominations and taking out rallies as if their political masters are demi-gods who will solve all their problems once elected. Unlike the young generation elsewhere, our youth seems to have all the time riding cars, bikes and shouting political slogans for their political masters. I simply assume they are unemployed youths ( khynnah khlem kam khlem jam) with all the free time in the world. My assumption was right when I asked a young biker what this fuss is all about. His reply is that since he has nothing to do he should enjoy the free drinks, free foods and free petrol rather than sitting idle at home.
Every politician claims that the District Council is a very vital institution in Meghalaya and hence they are contesting for the sake of the jaidbynriew. Really? As far as we are concerned the District Council is actually a lower division league where every politician tries to get promoted to the main league ( Assembly). It is also a rehabilitation centre for someone who has been relegated from the main league or for politicians who cannot win the Assembly seat or a place where sitting MLAs earn extra income and monetary schemes and hence MLAs, their spouses, offsprings et al are contesting elections as dummy candidates. An MLA’s relative who becomes MDC will automatically keep the vote bank of the MLA intact for the next election.
Recently H S Shylla felt insulted to be an MDC and confessed that there is no point being an MDC since all Bills passed by the KHADC are not passed by the District Council Affairs of the State Government. He also rued the fact that 70 % of the businesses in Iewduh are run or owned by non tribals. So the big question here is , “Who is issuing them trading licence in the first place? Is it Narendra Modi? No, it’s the KHADC themselves. When Mukul Sangma passed the Prevention of Disqualification Amendment Bill 2015, all legislators who held duals posts vacated their MDC seats and held on to the Assembly one, with the exception of PN Syiem. Not a single MLA resigned to cling on to the MDC seat. So when a candidate proudly claims that the District Council is the ‘Stieh of the Jaidbynriew’, (protective shield for the people) we should simply tell them it is bunkum. It is just a 2nd division league for politicians. In fact it only leads to conflict of power. There are frequent conflicts of interest between the district councils and the state legislature. The Sixth Schedule clearly states that- whenever there is a conflict of interest between District Councils and the state legislature, the views of the latter would prevail. Thus, state legislature enjoys superiority over the ADCs. Therefore autonomous councils are mere platforms for aspiring politicians who nurture ambitions to contest the assembly polls in the future.
Yours etc
Manuel Carey Lymba.
Shillong -8
Much ado about District Council elections
Editor,
Every night there are lectures up to 11 pm by various candidates contesting the ADC elections. Then there are songs playing before the lectures and after too. What for? What have the District Councils done for us? How have they improved our lives or reduced the poverty levels in our villages. Have they prevented land alienation? Will they be able to bring in land reforms so that all the indigenous people of Meghalaya who are landless are given some land for a home? This redistribution of land as happened in West Bengal must happen here in Meghalaya too otherwise we are staring at a bleak future. And I can say with certainty that these people who are contesting the MDC elections are not bothered about the key issues affecting the tribal people here whom they are elected to serve.
Why should the MDC also make footpaths? Isn’t that part of the MLA Scheme? The KHADC should make laws that are enlightened and which empower the tribes to start their own businesses. Instead we are seeing most shops in Iewduh which were previously held by Khasi-Pnar traders are now in the hands of non-tribal traders. Is the Iewduh not a sacred market of the Khasis where some worship is carried out by the Syiem of Mylliem once a year? Is the Syiem of Mylliem also blind to this fact or is the Iewduh his main source of income? For how long can people be fooled by politicians who are all out to enrich themselves and their immediate families? I think people are fed up of elections. I have a stall in Iewduh and I heard people discussing the Council elections. They said when Ardent Basaiawmoit was the CEM he had planned to modernise Iewduh. But he was soon unseated and Iewduh is now worse off than before. People are no longer enthusiastic to vote for the MDC elections. Soon they will also be tired of the Assembly elections.
Yours etc.,
T Sohkhlet,
Via email