By ER Sangma,
The poem, “Where the mind is without fear/And the head is held high,” reminds us of the atrocities committed by the British in imposing draconian laws and rules against the wishes of the Indian people. Today, we are witnessing the same, albeit in a different era where majoritarianism rules the day. Every issue discussed in the public forum takes sides for the government or against the government. The basic ideals of democracy take a beating as a result. Our Central Government has become impatient and less tolerant to criticisms. Some of the “self appointed government spokespersons” in the media also do not waste a second whenever some critics question the policies of the government and thereby, brand them as ‘Anti-Nationals’, ‘Urban Naxals’, ‘Sonia Sena’, ‘Congress party supporters’, etc. The government shows it does not favour scrutiny and criticism of their policies and always likes to play the narrative of nationalism, jingoism and the ideologies of their affiliated body which propagates the theory of one nation, one culture, and one language. However, these narratives would not survive for long and people cannot be taken for a ride.
Recently, in the run up to the polls in Jharkhand, PM Modi addressing voters said that his government being in majority passed CAB and that North East is on the boil due to instigation and misinformation fuelled by Congress and its allies against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019. To our utter dismay, the learned PM did not analyse the situation carefully and instead, may have allowed his thought process to be carried away by hear-say and rumours. It has become par for the course for PM Modi to take a dig at the Congress Party in the hope of garnering more votes in the Jharkhand elections. This speaks volumes about his hypocrisy while all the time he lectures about peace and national unity.
Mind you, Mr Modi, the people have come out in the streets in most parts of North East India to protest against the arbitrary decision of your government in passing CAB and abusing the majority power in Lok Sabha. By doing so, they have not become supporters of Congress Party or its allies nor have they been instigated by them. People have the right to dissent and show their displeasure in a democratic society. Learn to accept this bitter truth and not just exaggerate your successes every time and understand ‘Unity in Diversity’ not just in theory, but in all practical forms of governance. Gone are the days, when we witnessed lengthy constitutional debates in the Parliament for amending any Constitutional Acts and formulating any Bills. Now, riding on the majority seats in Lok Sabha, the Government gives a damn about these procedures and is always in a haste to pass most Bills arbitrarily.
An illegal migrant is illegal whatever may be the case-whether he/she is a Hindu, Muslim or belongs to any other religion for that matter. How is it legitimate to declare a person belonging to a particular religion as a citizen and the other person from a different religion as still an illegal migrant? In order to avoid such misconceptions and prejudices, the government should declare all the illegal migrants who have entered in India due to persecution in their native country as refugees and provide them asylum and basic rights. The present shape of the economy is in a desperate state, not to mention the History major bureaucrat appointed as RBI governor fiddling with the monetary policies without proper understanding of Economics! The country is struggling to sustain the livelihood of its citizens and this government is talking about adding those millions of illegal migrants as citizens and is showing concern for their welfare, instead of genuinely implementing their administrative policies and ensuring the end -use of the funds provided by them to each and every government ministries and departments under their control. This would have helped to steer the economy of the country out of this distressing situation. Otherwise, this is just plain vote bank politics at the cost of indigenous people.
Mr Amit Shah, who is the “Angry Man” of this Union Government, often lost in his web of illogical and self righteous thoughts says Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) would be exempted from Sixth Schedule Areas of Meghalaya. Does he think only 6th Schedule areas constitute Meghalaya? He failed miserably in understanding that each and every inch of soil in the territory of Meghalaya accounts for the state of Meghalaya. As a Minister dealing with Home affairs and its constituent Census department, he did not take into account the demographic position of the state- its thin population and that it would be simply outnumbered by influx of non- indigenous would-be illegal migrants naturalised into citizens by the implementation of CAA. This would turn Meghalaya into another Tripura where the indigenous people are outnumbered by non-indigenous populace resulting in them becoming a minority in their own state and governed by the non- indigenous people.
To make matters worse, our own Member of Parliament, Agatha Sangma supported this controversial CAB without any application of her ‘law-degree’ mind. She simply succumbed to the lure of the Centre in the hope of a future ministerial berth for supporting the Bill. Such a pity! Putting her personal interests over the aspirations of the people! The misery doesn’t end there. Ironically it may seem the Governor of Meghalaya who is supposed to remain apolitical while holding such constitutional posts speaks and rattles through social media about his ill conceived notions and poor knowledge. It is such a disgrace. He should in fact speak up for the indigenous people and take initiatives for maintaining peace and all around human development in the state rather than promoting tourism to his beloved tourist destination of North Korea.
Interestingly, the State administration is not lagging behind in following the precedents set in the erstwhile state of J&K by banning Internet services and readily claiming that it would curb the spread of violence and breakdown of law and order in the state. They have forgotten and it may have been beyond their comprehension and wisdom in understanding that in this era of Information Technology driven economy, every economic activity depends solely on Internet services. Add to this, the unemployed youths from the sate needing to apply for various job advertisements; the students who require internet access to apply and prepare for various examinations; the tourists who require to book flights, trains and hotels, etc. Information Technology fields have emerged and so is the Information Technology Acts through which the state administration can monitor and keep in check those who are spreading rumours, fake news, inciting violence. If they find themselves to be incompetent to put in place such mechanisms then they should not hesitate to collaborate with NIC, NIELIT and various such agencies for ensuring smooth governance in this time of chaos and disorder. Banning Internet services indicates the inefficiency of administration in tackling the crisis. Rather they should take such steps that would instill confidence among the citizens.
Above all, the organisers and leaders of pressure groups and NGOs should not allow anti-social elements to hijack their noble cause of peaceful protests and agitations and discourage violence in any form in opposing the arbitrary decisions of the government. We hope better sense would prevail over the people by peacefully and wisely participating in the democratic, decision-making and development processes of the state.