At this juncture, it is fashionable to kick the Congress Party out of its consciousness after its dismal performance in all the five states that had gone to the polls recently. Even In Manipur where the Congress was initially hopeful of aligning with other like-minded parties like the NPP, to have a non-BJP government, it has suffered a huge blow. Electoral fortunes tend to swing like the pendulum. The Congress in Manipur ended up with just 5 seats and the NPP 5. In 2017 the Congress had won 27 seats and was the single largest party then but a quick cobble-up game by the BJP which tied up with the NPP and NPF enabled it to form the government there. For now the Congress looks like it is sucked in by quicksand. Perhaps its time that the party chiefs in all the states get their act together and tell the Nehru-Gandhi dynasts to allow inner-party democracy so that the Party can be rebuilt. For, if the Congress continues to drift like this it will be forgotten by 2024 and perhaps be replaced by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The AAP has already become the Party that does not mimic any of the stereotypical mainstream political parties.
Considering that the Congress Party still has within its membership some of the best brains of the country and that they are still hanging on despite the drubbing they have got from state after state. they would be committing hara-kiri not to halt the rapid attrition.Coming to Meghalaya where all the 17 MLAs have virtually deserted the Congress Party it is the new look Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) which provides a ray of hope. Never before has any political party, much less a youth wing, analysed the budget so incisively as has been done by the Secretary of the newly constituted body. This shows that the youth are now worried about the huge open market borrowings by the MDA government and the increased interest payments which have accumulated over the years. The question is where is this money being invested. Capital expenditure in infrastructure as stated by the MPYC Secretary helps create jobs but only if there is transparency in award of tenders etc.
The CM’s claim to put Meghalaya among the top ten states in achieving the sustainable development goals(SDGs) looks futile. Recently the SKOCH State of Governance Report 2021 which ranked the states in good governance, completely blanked out Meghalaya. All other North Eastern states were marked. Assam’s ranking had gone up to the status of “performer” state. How did this happen? The Meghalaya Congress has its task cut out and there’s hope when the youth take on the onus of critiquing the government and governance.
