By HH Mohrmen
In trying to defend his brother the Chief Minister made it public that there is no illegal transportation of coal from the State and there is no harm in making a sweeping statement like that. But the question is how will he be able to stand by his statement when all the odds are stacked against him. Conrad will by now realise that making such statements is easy but proving his critics wrong will be an impossible task, because there is too much evidences against the chief minister’s stand on this issue. The entire episode will definitely have its impact on the image of the Party in the State where it is in the Government for the first time and a State where till today it has a major presence.
If Conrad is right in saying that there is no illegal transport of coal from the state, then the NGT Committee has to be wrong and the government has to prove that the reports submitted in the highest court of the country are false. The MDA Government has not been able to reply to the allegation in the reports and yet, the CM is making such statements. By denying that there is no illegal transportation of coal from the state in spite of a very detailed report by the NGT, Conrad has deliberately discredited the report and more seriously delegitimized the powers and function of the NGT Committee. Conrad has contradicted the report because it has come down heavily on the Government and by making the statement he has given his own verdict on the case.
What should be a matter of concern for the public at large is the fact that in this statement in one fell swoop the Chief Minister has also delegitimized the office of the Lokayukta in Meghalaya. It was reported in the media that the anti-graft institution took suo-moto cognizance against those allegedly involved in the illegal transport of coal from the state, but nothing has happened to the case till date. The Government is deliberately delaying from taking action against those officials the Lokayukta has alleged to be part of the racket. The question that Conrad will have to answer is why is the Government trying to shield those officials whose names were mentioned by the Lokayukta?
Why is the Government not willing to cooperate with the Institution but is instead trying to create hurdles and not allowing the CBI to conduct an inquiry in the matter? If as the Chief Minister said there is no illegal transportation of coal and the Government has nothing to hide, then why does it not allow the CBI to conduct the investigation as ordered by Lokayukta? It is now obvious that what this Government has done all the while was to confront all the institutions which have pointed fingers at the illegal activity. It has confronted the NGT committee and now it has unnecessarily locked horns with the Lokayukta for the same reason.
The Chief Minister is not doing the State and its people a favour by creating this kind of atmosphere in the governance system of the state. The Government is not allowing these institutions to function independently and instead created stumbling blocks in their efforts to deliver their services. Now if this is the situation prevailing in the State then isn’t it obvious to the public why the Chairman of the NGT committee tendered his resignation from the Committee? The other moot question is if the government is going to object to the recommendations of the Lokayukta then what is the point of setting up the Institution in the first place? The only way to fight corruption is to take it head-on and allow the Lokayukta to function independently without any interference from the Government. So, if this Government is serious in its effort to fight corruption and as the Chief Minster said there is no illegal transport of coal from the state, then it should cooperate with the Lokayukta and let the law take its own course.
The truth is known to all. Everybody knows that by denying that there is no illegal transport of coal from the state, Conrad is up against the wall because the statement produces more questions than that it cares to answer. One of the questions is if there is no illegal transport of coal, Conrad will have to prove how the cement plants in the state were able to produce cement in all these years. Where did the coal for producing cement and for generating energy from their captive power plants come from? If the cement plants are importing coal from outside do they have the necessary papers? What about the plants which produce coke? Where does the coal come from?
What about the trucks which have been caught carrying coal by the police at different locations on the National highways? What happened to these cases or were they simply made to disappear to protect somebody? What about the trucks caught by Assam police on the Silchar to Karimganj route and trucks caught carrying coal to Guwahati? There were reports of illegal transport of coal almost every day and if the reports are false why didn’t the Government contest against the reports if they were false.
Trying to deny illegal transport of coal from the state is like what the Pnars say; ‘rieh chlooiñ,’ (when one tries to hide oneself but covers only one’s face while the entire body is visible to everybody). This is what the Chief Minister has become by trying to publicly deny the illegal activities when all the odds are against him. The most important question that the public need to ask is why the Government is in a denial mode? Why is the Government denying the obvious when its own partners in the MDA government are now pointing fingers at the Home Minister? And even after the Chief Minister made the statement, why didn’t the UDP buy the Chief Minister’s statement on the issue?
Not only the UDP even the NCP President and leader of the United People’s Front admitted that illegal transportation of coal happened since 2014. The UPF leader Saleng Sangma did not deny the illegal activity but also said that one person cannot be blamed for all the wrongs in the Government. Saleng also said that he wants to correct the system but the question is how can he correct the wrongs in the system when the CM is adamant and insists that there is nothing wrong in the system. With the BJP questioning the Home Minister’s handling of the coal transportation, it looks as if all the partners in the coalition government have upped their ante against their Government.
So what will the UDP which is one of the major constituent in the Government going to do now? It is obvious that the coalition partner is not in the know of what had happened with regards to the illegal transportation of coal and it is not as if they are blind and deaf to what had happened. The people are therefore anxiously waiting and watching what the UDP’s next move will be. What will the regional parties which are at the receiving end of all that had happened do now? After this episode, it will be impossible for the NPP to rid itself of the blame of being a corrupt party because people know the facts very well. And as the saying goes, ‘You can fool some people some time but not all the people all the time.’ Are the regional parties going to continue to blindly follow the party and be condemned with the NPP for the sin that they had not committed?
The regional parties will find it difficult in the near future to rid themselves of the stench of corruption with which the Government is tainted if they it continue to remain in the alliance. The question is will the UDP which has pointed fingers against one of the cabinet ministers agree with the Chief Minister’s clarification that no illegal transport of coal happened and continue to support the MDA government? Or will the UDP which is the major constituent in the alliance decide to abandon the coalition? And what about the other regional parties? What is their next move? The continued interference of the Government in the function of the KHADC and GHADC will also add fuel to the fire. Hence as the saying goes, “The best is yet to come.”