The Meghalaya state assembly was once represented by stalwarts whose vision encompassed the whole state. Their verbal calisthenics in the Assembly were intellectual gems and the debates were a class apart. The House comprised educated leaders, some of whom were college and university lecturers and professors. They were professionals; not businessmen. That’s the biggest difference between then and now. Since the MLAs of the that time owned no businesses and were not contractors they concentrated on law making. While they developed their constituencies; their priority was the State. Today we witness a fall from grace for this Assembly. The structure coming up at the New Shillong Township might be impressive but are its occupants worthy of that space considering the manner in which they were elected?
Money has played and continues to play a key role in the election of candidates. Hardly ever does this calculation go wrong. The electorate have learnt that election time is celebration time. That’s the one and only time when people are the masters and politicians vie for their attention. Somebody somewhere started the cash for votes game and it is here to stay. Since the Congress party has ruled Meghalaya for the longest time it is this party that started the cash distribution game. Others only followed suit. The regional parties dd not have the kind of cash the Congress had – much of which came from Delhi. Hence the Congress has lost its moral and ethical plank to blame other political parties for using cash to woo voters. The Election Commission of India (ECI) remains a mute spectator to the cash for votes game because the candidates are always one up on it.
Since candidates with money have better chances at winning elections, political parties and their ideologies don’t matter. Even election manifestos are passe. Sure, there will be a few ethical souls who will vote for those they believe deserve their votes. But such are too few to make a difference. No wonder those that have the intention to be real lawmakers and who understand what the role of a legislator is are now shying away from politics. Besides, people expect their MLAs to be service providers, serving their personal needs. This is tough for an MLA in the Opposition who only has access to the MLA scheme of Rs 3 crore a year. Any wonder then why MLA scheme is spent at the fag end of the MLA’s term? The MLA scheme is used to service people and not to create public assets. On Meghalaya’s 49th year we have truly got the MLAs we deserve and things can only slide down from here unless voters decide to be the change they wish to see.
