By Albert Thyrninag
“The most venerable party is the Congress. All other parties are targeting it. The only option for other parties to prevent the Meghalaya Congress from winning the 2023 election is by pilfering their sheep. This strategy worked in all the three recent by-elections.”
The BJP is the latest party to claim that some Congress MLAs are in touch with it to contest the next Assembly elections under the saffron flag. The NPP has time and again predicted the mass exodus of Congress legislators before 2023. The UDP too has revealed that there are feelers from other parties to join it. In the 2018 general elections the above three managed the sheep stealing acts quite well leading to the loss of the grand old party and pushing it to the Opposition role after a gap of almost ten years. On its part, the Congress has been trying hard to bring back turncoats ever since Vincent Pala was appointed as MPCC president. The latest attempt is to make DD Lapang ‘come home’. The Congress chief revealed that many church leaders have written to him urging him to lure back the five-time chief minister. Who are these churchmen who decide which politicians should be in which political parties? Do these clergymen suggest that the Church is with the Congress? In the meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has indicated that it will be in the fray in 2023 as part of its ambition for a greater national role. The ‘Bengal’ party might convince Mukul Sangma and his loyalists to see merit in ditching the party that made him minister, deputy chief minister and chief minister and join forces with Mamata Banerjee.
Switching political parties is merely for personal benefit. Politicians don’t mind any political camp provided they are in a favourable position. Remaining in a party is fine as long as the party is able to serve their interests. Once a party is no longer in a position to oblige them they easily become deserters. The 79 year old Amarinder Singh, former chief minister of Punjab, is the latest example. It is easily inferred that the veteran leader, LAPANG quit Congress in 2018 because it had lost the election. The party was unable to offer him any post. He joined the National People’s Party after being the offered the post of chief adviser to the NPP-led government in Meghalaya with perks and facilities equivalent to a cabinet minister. If he senses that the Congress will return to power, another U-turn could materialise.
The most venerable party is the Congress. All other parties are targeting it. The only option for other parties to prevent the Meghalaya Congress from winning the 2023 election is by pilfering their sheep. This strategy worked in all the three recent by-elections. The 1885 founded party that has taken deep roots in this hill state, came short of winning because other parties tricked three of their workers to contest the elections not to win but to defeat the Congress candidates. The strength of the Congress is its weakest link. Other parties know the best bet to beat the Congress is the Congress itself.
As sheep stealing is all geared up to be the main political activity in the remaining months leading to the much-awaited 2023, political philosophy is the victim. Ideology, which is supposed to be the chief attraction or deterrence, does not matter anymore. We have in AL Hek a man who does not mind donning two diametrically opposite political ideologies alternately to remain a minister. Other ministers from the previous Congress government too are in the chair because they did not mind shifting loyalty for the sake of power.
Prior to the 2018 elections, the NPP’s watchword and slogan was change. This writer warned that no change could be expected because the ruling party/parties could be different but the ministers would be the same. Probably with the exception of the chief minister, others have the same mentality, the same approach, the same style, the same lure for filthy lucre and the same lethargy. Nothing has changed really. Now we see that the expectation in governance and performance is nowhere close to the hype created five years ago. In the next elections too the vicious cycle could be repeated. The same people will be in different parties. Very few fresh-blood will plunge in. No new idea will emerge.
With sheep stealing the chief tactic assessment on the performance of the MDA government will escape media and public scrutiny. Anti-incumbency will be blunted by the hype of high profile political entries and exits. Issues will be side-lined. With more than a year prior to the election much media space has been occupied by speculations of shifting political allegiance by heavy weights. In the coming days and months the focus will be almost entirely on the drama of ‘who has left which party and who he or she has aligned with.’ The electorate is forced to witness this theatre forgetting the matters that concern the state and their lives.
The parties in power will, of course, amplify the ‘achievements’ of the government. More stress will be on reminding the voters of the latest initiatives. These days chief minister, Conrad Sangma seems to be on a whirlwind tour of West Khasi Hills. Beginning with the inauguration of the new district where the ‘sun rises and sets in the same direction’ the chief minister announced the Rs 200 crore earmarked for farmers’ welfare via state government’s flagship programme, Farmers Collectivization for Upscaling Production and Marketing System (FOCUS), in Nongstoin, West Khasi Hills district. Sangma also travelled to Nongkhnum river island in the same district promising a special package of Rs 13 crore for development of tourism infrastructure and amenities at the second largest river island in Asia after Majuli of Assam. I am glad the chief minister rode on the more than dilapidated road from Nongstoin to the river island’s junction at Kynshi village. He might have got a first-hand feel of the hard time users of the crucial road experience daily. It looks like it takes the visit of the Chief Minister for work on the long-pending Nongstoin-Wahkaji road to commence as the contractor has been given necessary instruction as asserted by the chief minister.
While the above initiatives have been announced just a year before the elections, do farmers need help only now? Is not Rs. 200 crore a meagre amount for the farmers of the whole state? Did the scenic Nongkhnum not need government intervention earlier? Why has the government neglected Nongstoin-Wahkaji for so long? The reason for the full ‘steam’ push is because public memory is short. In election rallies the latest ‘accomplishments’ of the government will be publicised with vigour. But the most important question is, how much of implementation will actually be achieved in one year. Even the 12th district may not be fully functional in one year’s time. But never mind! Even if little happens on the ground the NPP will appeal to the voters to vote for it for the second time running so that the initiatives will be completed if it reassumes office. But it is not only the NPP or the UDP, all MLAs implement their schemes at the fag end of their tenure to tell their ‘success stories’ to the public enticing them to re-elect them.
The Chief Minister will probably tour the other districts in the state announcing schemes and projects until the model code of conduct comes into effect. Mukul Sangma did the same thing in 2018. He failed to return to power because the people could judge his intent. Of course, the departure of prominent rebel leaders happened because they protested against his ‘style’ of leadership. Today, it could be his turn to turn his back against the party that has given him much.
One of the trump cards of the government will be the efforts to settle the border disputes with Assam. Though it is likely that the complex issue will make little headway yet the government will claim it has taken concrete steps in solving the decades old disagreement with the neighbouring state. Being a sensitive issue the government may cash in the political mileage. There are already reports that the government’s move is for political reasons – gains of certain parties. The people in the border areas see through the government’s questionable intention.
More than anything else, stories of ‘sheep stealing’ will make it to the headlines the mainstream and social media. This is the best strike for all political parties for 2023. The public will be deprived of a meaningful deliberation and discourse on the merits of whether this government should remain or another coalition replace it.
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