By Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh
General elections in Meghalaya are just a year away and the citizens will have to elect a new set of public servants or MLAs, whose primary or constitutional duty is to legislate laws, formulate policies and also to debate on issues that matter to the people of the State. It is the fundamental duty of the citizens to participate in this democratic process in order to decide and elect those representatives. Though electoral politics is not the end all or be all, but is crucial as it impacts peoples’ lives and being. Electoral participation can take different forms but it should not be blinded by the primordial idea of kinship and personal relations or even ‘goodness’ of a candidate. Further, emotions and parochialism must not be the grounds for electoral interventions. In an age where information and data analytics have superseded almost all aspects of our lives, electoral interventions have to be sound, reasonable, objective and magnanimous.
The parliamentary system and the Constitution have not only given us the democratic space but also given people the liberty to create their own spaces for debates and dissent which can be capitalised to the maximum before deciding to elect public servants. Thus, electoral intervention is about debate and dissent which people should not shy away from. On no account must we allow money or distributional politics to destroy this essential aspect of our democracy, lest we run the risk of handing the reins of our beloved 50 year old State into the hands of a few rich families. Irrespective of ideologies or whether one is on the right or left or centre, prospective candidates need to come out and debate. It is imperative on the part of citizens to bring them to the platform and confront them with issues, policies and laws.
Prospective candidates need not only show their faces in “paid functions” which are organized on their behalf, but also be ready to debate and expound in public fora their core beliefs and principles or ideology and ideas which they have for rebuilding the State. For example, what policies do they intend to formulate for the daily wagers and unorganized workers, bus and taxi drivers? What plans do they have for employment generation? What idea do they have for protecting the indigenous citizens and other minorities of the State against the domination of the majority community? What laws do they intend to legislate to protect tribal culture which includes protecting the land holding system and ecology from being exploited by both tribal elites and big corporates from outside the State? What solutions do they have to offer, to bring about communal co-existence and not allowing lumpen elements to rule the roost, sans double speaking?
Health and education are the primary indicators for development but sadly in Meghalaya they are the most ignored sectors and therefore what policies do they wish to offer in this aspect? The people of the State need to know and through this process the electorate will be able to make an informed choice. These and many other questions are crucial for the reason that in distributional politics there are several targeted groups which prospective candidates like predators, would feast on and with money buy away the economically poor and vulnerable sections.
At 50 what does Meghalaya need? The State has to progress and for the State to grow and progress one must challenge and confront the distributional and divisive politics head on. The State and people must prioritise issues and act accordingly – the plight of unorganized workers, small and medium business enterprises, teachers, students, health workers, cultivators, farmers and employment generation have to be addressed concretely and immediately with a pro-workers approach. Health care and education must take precedence in legislation and policy formulation and should be people centric. The State or society should no longer ignore its daughters, which compose more than half of the population, while legislating laws for grassroots governance. More so, corruption and criminalization of politics and governance has to be stopped at all costs. Today we are not just normalizing the two but also internalizing and considering them as a way of life. It is quite interesting that the Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister are sermonizing on child rearing so as not to produce bomb makers. Perhaps, they must also be told that children should not be reared to become corrupt when they grow up.
The economic rights and entitlements of the people are never in the forefront of any political discourse in the State. The discourse on these vital economic issues needs to be tagged along with the debate on the economy of the State. What should be the economic policy, rather economic production? How to channelize the entrepreneurial spirit of our youths and not waste them by cheap politicking. There are many enterprising, creative and passionate young people with no political connections whatsoever and whose dreams are being washed away by the politics of favouritism.
Recently, there was the demand to review the State’s Reservation Policy. I respect the youth for questioning the State’s policy, but I disagree with idea and proposition that reservation for the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo should be based on population of these tribes. In fact, if the reservation policy is to be reviewed it has to take into account the economic conditions and the State should not deviate from the established principle that reservation is primarily meant for the economically unsound and politically backward sections of society. Thus, in the case of Meghalaya one has to come out with a formula where landless tribals and economically unsound sections of society should be given preference in both government and private sectors and also in educational institutions.
Meghalaya largely depends on Central funding and this has also given rise to misconception that the State should be ruled by the same party or partners of the Central government. This is totally wrong and has to be challenged on the basis that India is a Union of States. Tribal states like Meghalaya acceded and entered into an agreement as equal partners and joined the Union of India under the Constitution. No doubt our contribution towards the Union is minimal compared with bigger states in terms of taxation and production. But whatever the amount of financial support which the Centre has to respectfully give us and for how long, is on the basis of the agreement that the people of India chose to accept on January 26, 1950. Therefore, we need to reclaim and reinforce the idea of shared federalism and this idea does not necessarily apply just to politics and economics, but also to culture and beliefs.
It is the constitutional duty of the State to provide basic amenities like road, footpath, drainage, electricity, water, sanitation, waste bins, public health and education etc., to every village or shnong. Therefore, the Village Administration law comes into play here and grassroots governance is vital in implementing these essential rights. But to the contrary, in Meghalaya, villages are being subjected to the whims and fancies of MLAs, MPs or even MDCs, for that matter. Rights and entitlements are being so easily politicised due to lack of robust and democratic governance. Implementation of essential schemes in villages or shnongs, both rural and urban depend on the MLAs. This should not be the case at all if the State has legally sound and democratic civic bodies at the grass roots.
Alas the polity is being reduced to drainage or “nala” politics whereby a prospective candidate would energetically inspect incomplete drains and accuse the other for not being a good public servant. However, the solution to this is simple, the democratically elected body of the shnong or village should be solely responsible for providing and managing basic amenities and MLAs as public servants should be barred by law from interfering in such matters. At the same time the Social Audit Law is already in place and must not be kept in cold storage. Rather it must be fully implemented.
Party hopping and political turncoats are legendary in Meghalaya’s politics. The electorates have already been greeted by this in the recent past and more are expected in the coming days. Again, very early we are seeing signs and movements of distributional politics. Unlike in the past where only common materials like blankets, cooking utensils, school and medical bills, funeral, cultural and sports tournament expenses would be distributed; now a new list has been added with the new found technology like CCTVs, Laptops, Android phones etc. Also, JCB machines are the new metaphor in the electoral narrative of the State.
For democracy to survive we need to adhere to the core values and principles. And those core values which emanate from movements for social, economic and political justice need to be expounded in the public sphere. We should not allow our polity to be guided by the politics of distribution and by political turncoats for the next 50 years. It is never too late to put up a challenge and the time is now.
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