Patricia Mukhim
Anyone who is arguing on whether coal in Meghalaya is being dug and transported on a daily basis is wasting time. Of course coal is being mined and transported every single day. If anyone has doubts, let them visit East Jaintia Hills where mountains of coal are stored by the roadside all throughout Khliehriat. On the way to Sakhain and Latyrke one sees dozens of cranes exploring new coalfields. One can also see trucks emptying out the freshly dug coal into the depots. Swish SUVs are parked near every coal depot where the mine owners negotiate their prices and their sales. So the Congress Party which has been attacking the MDA Government on a daily basis on illegal transportation of coal fails to impress. What the Congress should do is record the activities in the coal mines and the coal depots and make a presentation in the State Assembly for all to see. We are all tired of empty rhetoric. Words are meaningless if they are not razor-sharp and pointed. MLAs are not supposed to grope for words or to be dramatic. It cuts no ice. The lesser people speak the better, especially when you have “Honourable” MLAs who uses gutter language in the August House.
The truth, the truth and nothing but the whole truth is that coal mining is going on as usual and the NGT has not been able to halt this business for whatever reason. So who is obfuscating this truth? Christopher Columbus spoke wisely when he said, “Truth is truth. If a thousand people believe something foolish, it is still foolish! If they believe something true is foolish it is still true! Truth is never dependent upon consensus of opinion. I have found that it is better to be alone and acting upon the truth in my heart than to follow the silly geese doomed to mediocrity.”
So there are layers of falsehoods we are fed with by the system that governs us. It’s called political lying Success in politics has less to do with brains than guts. In 2018 the Congress had failed at the basics: defining the message, attacking the opponents, defending their leaders, inspiring their voters. The people of Meghalaya didn’t like the BJP hence the saffron party had to come here via the backdoor called the NPP. BJP is the Hindi equivalent of the NPP. The people of Garo Hills voted overwhelmingly for NPP and some for Congress; the Khasi Hills voted for the regional parties – UDP/PDF/HSPDP and Congress and the Jaintia Hills voted NPP/UDP/Congress. The two BJP MLAs did not win on the Party flag but were judged by their persona. So even in voting, the socio-political nuances and the individual candidate’s ability to attend to the personal needs of the constituents play a big role in their winning or losing an election.
In 2018 the Meghalaya Congress was battling anti-incumbency even while the Party was floundering at the national level. It continues to waver without a charismatic leader at the helm and the Party isn’t about to change course other than going downhill. Hence Congress MLAs in Meghalaya are today in a sinking ship. Many of their comrades in Assam are joining the saffron party soon because there’s no future for them in the Congress now or in the years to come. Reason? Those leading the Party refuse to cede space to more capable leaders outside the dynasty. So decrepit are the state of affairs in the Congress that people like Mukul Sangma who are otherwise quite cerebral when it comes to politics might have to think out new strategies. To form a regional front is like kite-flying. The regional parties will always be subservient to national parties. So what are the options for Mukul Sangma and his team? Clearly the only option is to join the saffron party which in any case is returning to power in 2024. Why? Because there is no national alternative!
It is politically unviable for Mukul Sangma, his family members and party MLAs including the father-son duo of Charles Pyngrope and David Nongrum to join the NPP. Remaining out of power for five years means that funds too would have dwindled. You can’t fight elections without money. People like Sniawbhalang Dhar and Prestone Tynsong are having the last laugh for they control the present government. Dhar is cornering all the major contracts apart from facilitating the mining and transportation of coal which is the engine that drives election funding. Tynsong is wielding power in the Khasi-Jaintia region in what is a clear demarcation of political responsibility. AL Hek the BJP MLA and Health Minister is largely marginalised. But with just two MLAs the BJP can hardly wield the whip on its senior partner the NPP. So the MDA ship sails without faltering because no one is really bothered about governance. Sure we hear of schemes being announced and foundation stones galore being laid. But a Government that does not have the wherewithal to even repair the roads in Shillong city can’t be said to be conscious of its responsibilities. It’s just struggling to arrive at the deadline of 2023.
This government is already tired and has not brought in the changes promised during the elections. The only promise that the MDA Government has delivered on is to allow coal mining and transportation. That’s carrying on in full swing. The Congress can’t do a thing about it because it can’t hurt a government that is in stoic denial of wrongdoing. And if the Congress meant business it would have called for a CBI enquiry into the illegal coal business. The NPP State President and Rajya Sabha member had made a rather queer statement on television the other day. He took a swipe at city dwelling intellectuals who constantly raise the bogey of illegal coal mining and accused them of being “jealous” of those who created wealth from coal. The devastating impact on the environment because of coal mining does not seem to have registered in the mind of this person with scholarly credentials. His contention that Meghalaya is gifted with coal so that its people become rich and that urbanites should not be jealous of their wealth is ludicrous. The Rajya Sabha MP is perhaps blinded by the fact that Meghalaya today lives unashamedly around the garish symbols of new wealth even as parts of this very city are dotted with stinky slums and over-populated clusters which seem to provide a collective voyeurism to those in power.
Fact is that the general style of governance in Meghalaya irrespective of Party has supported greed and smugness and the articulate intelligentsia has supported that style by their own incestuous preoccupation. We are, most of us, living room democrats too guarded about speaking up lest we need to curry favour with those in power. This has brought us to the nadir. So while the poor remain voiceless and therefore without agency the articulate class is complacent, little knowing that complacency is the devil’s drug and can produce fatty degeneration of a people.
Whoever will write the political history of Meghalaya twenty years hence will perhaps rue this great let-down of a people by self proclaimed leaders, elected by the sheer power of wealth. No one cared enough to resign from their offices to protest corruption. They all acquiesced silently, the people be damned!
In all of this, one empathises and hopes with those that genuinely believe they can change their fates and that of others and rewrite history by reclaiming their right to drive the fortunes of this state on the fast track. May their tribe increase!