By Toki Blah
There exists within Meghalaya a societal question which has not really been articulated in public nor openly admitted but which lurks nonetheless in the hidden recesses of everyone’s mind. It’s a question that most of us immediately brush aside whenever it pops up in our subconscious for its something we are scared to confront or embarrassed to admit. The question raises uneasy and uncomfortable feelings within us. The question however is really fundamentally simple for it concerns Meghalaya’s Socio-political environment. The question is – Who helps form public opinion in our society? Or to be more precise how is public opinion formed in Meghalaya? Is it through a conscious thinking process based on visionary thinking, factual information, real genuine needs of society or is it the product of open and blatant political opportunism by shameless appeals to the kneejerk and raw emotional responses of an unruly Motphran mob? Does it originate from manifestoes of political parties and their elected leaders or through the nefarious speculation of self appointed saviours of society? To our shame, more often than not, it is the latter to the extent that even state policy is often influenced by this flawed phenomenon. This has played havoc with Meghalaya’s sense of vision; its growth and development trajectory. Of greater harm is the damage it has caused to our thinking, our societal worldview and our collective psyche.
At this juncture perhaps it would be in the interest of all to first define “Public Opinion”. What is Public Opinion, how is it formed and what impact does it have in our day to day lives, with special reference to the state of Meghalaya. Wikipedia defines Public Opinion as ‘the desires, wants and thinking of the majority of the people. It is the collective opinion of the people of a society or state on an issue or problem. Democracy requires public opinion because it derives authority from the public’. In Meghalaya this collective opinion of the people is, more often than not, manufactured, initiated and abetted by pressure groups who in turn are mostly composed of inexperienced youth, both educated and uneducated, but who are vocal and vociferous in their claim that they are the saviours of society and their actions aimed at protecting the community. Their call has been that Unity is the need of the hour; need for the people to come together; need to protect ourselves; urgent need to cleanse indigenous society etc. It’s a claim that time and again has succeeded in rousing public empathy and provide the fig leaf of an excuse for the organisers to hide behind this manufactured public opinion. So in our case, if protection of the community is the genesis behind public opinion, it would be of interest to find out the rationale behind the need for such protection! A need for protection can only come out of a sense of apprehension that something bad or harmful is about to happen. The need for protection can only spring out of a sense of fear. The pertinent question before us is, Fear of what and who has identified this fear for us?
The indigenous people of Meghalaya have always been conscious of the fact that we are a minority community in comparison to the teeming millions that make up the rest of the country. We have been always morbidly fascinated, and not without cause, of the possibility of being swamped over by others from the rest of main land India, if ever such a possibility were to be made possible. Now with the CAA backed by a possible NRC, the possibility of foreigners, attaining citizenship through the back door and settling in their hordes in the state has become a positive nightmare. This is what the whole concern over influx and settlement of outsiders in Meghalaya is all about. It’s the main reason behind the outcry against the CAA and the ultimate pressure on our politicians to come up with a resolution of the State Assembly for implementation of the ILP in Meghalaya. So the fear over unregulated influx has turned once again into a distinct nightmare. One is now left with a question whether the ILP is the best answer we can come up as an influx control mechanism? There unfortunately never had been any public pressure or debate on the issue and so our politicians who have always gone by the motto ‘The voice of the people is the voice of God’ simply never saw the need for prolonged or in-depth discussion on the subject. Their actions were simply dictated to by pressure groups who had managed to manufacture public opinion on the need for an ILP. Fear built up the profile image of the threat and the danger from unregulated influx. Imagination has done the rest. The question before the people of Meghalaya is whether influx is the only danger that confronts the state and its people? If there are other dangers, what is the threat perception from them and why are we not speaking about them?
As far as I can remember there has always been something or the other to fear. There is the fear about the world coming to an end and for the need for immediate repentance. The thlen and the menshohnoh was what scared our forefathers to their wits end. It’s still there. There are those who fear empowering women because of the possible takeover by women of our grassroots governance system. For God’s sake there is a whole bunch of guys out there, and educated at that, who are literally scared of a Shillong Municipal Election! Today, as pointed out above, it is fear of unregulated influx with its unthinkable impact on our socio-political well-being that has caught the panicky imagination of the people. Public opinion is on how to blunt this looming danger. But are the above the real threats that confront our society or are there others that have not been identified, highlighted, not brought to the fore, swept under the carpet, those that continue to lurk undetected, silently wreaking havoc and disorder in the society we live in. The greatest of these threats is the absence of politically visionary leaders for our society. The best we could produce in this breed are demagogues and rabble rousers, good at rousing emotions through fear; highly talented in purchasing votes; great with vague promises but nothing else tangible. There is no leader within sight who can instil hope; vision, optimism and eager anticipation for a better tomorrow. All we have are Fear mongers and they are simply dishing out loads of despondency, despair and gloom. The greatest threat to our society is that we don’t have a vision for the future. Sad, but there it is!
Hope can only be seen and found in the area or space where society can grow. Growth of the economy; development of quality education and health paradigms; increase in aspects of happiness and wellbeing are now considered as the equitable indicators of an overall Human Development Index (HDI). HDI is the golden grail for all political wannabes. The ability to establish a good HDI the hallmark of good leadership. If this is the case then why don’t those who claim to be the leaders or wannabe leaders of our state ever speak about the Human Development Index of Meghalaya? Why do political leaders of our state shy away from questions, issues and difficulties related with the economic development of our state? Leadership is not just all about the ability to rouse and incite emotions and sentiments of a crowd; its not just about being able to win an election; it’s not just about grabbing and holding on to power. Leadership is all about one’s ability to provide towards the wellbeing and contentment to the led; the ability to deliver on society’s expectations; the ability to provide security, confidence and hope. If it’s not there within the leadership environment of our state then it’s time we brought it in. Time that we as the public demand for it. Time for the electorate to start voting for those who can bring it about! Time for the public mindset and public opinion to start veering towards leadership that inspires instead of cheering for one that is capable of only scaring the living daylights out of all of us.