By W Passah
We owe a big thank you to The Shillong Times for the interview with Ardent Basaiawmoit (AB), President of the VPP. The interview could not have come at a better time than this, when the excesses of the MDA Government have crossed all limits of political decency.
Living Conditions, Education and Power. NITI Aayog places Meghalaya as the poorest state in the North East and 6th from the bottom at the national level. In the midst of poverty, Meghalaya is further battered by drug abuse where it features at the top. In education, the Pohkriyal Nishank progress report is enough to know where we stand and disappointingly no post mortem has been carried out by the minister or bureaucrats. And if the global standing of India is poor then Meghalaya’s position is more damning. With our teachers having to abandon their students to protest in front of the Secretariat, the lethargy of the Government is exposed.
In the Power sector, the Meghalaya government has pandered to the cement and steel factories. Right now, Meghalaya depends on the national grid which due to the heat wave prevailing in northern India is itself power starved. The public here bear the load shedding and power rationing daily.
Economic, Social Welfare and Landlessness :-The rich and poor divide is getting wider. The rich are getting richer through corruption and by oppressing the poor. For example, since the MDA government came to power, our smaller contractors with hired road-rollers have lost their jobs to the bigger contractors. The poor unemployed youth are engaged in road construction. Our cabinet ministers who own JCBs, fast road rollers and modern mixing machines are displacing the poor. They get the work order without tendering and get engineers to certify their work and with no time frame.
On the Social Welfare front, NFHS- 5 says 41% households are headed by single mothers and 42 % of the population belong to the 41 % households. AB attributes it to licentiousness in marriage. As a legislator in 2011 he tried to push through the Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act. Sadly, his own party the HSPDP let him down. This is why in the EPIC survey we come across “Father’s name – Unknown.” Had the bill gone through, the father might have been identified.
Landlessness :-When ST questioned AB on this he attributed it to ignorance of our ancestors. Actually the Syiems and Dallois were not and are not entitled to grant pattas. Any poor who deserves a dwelling place was examined by the dorbar and accordingly decided to be given space. Even pine trees for the hamlets were felled from community forests with one sapling grown for one tree felled. Environmental respect began a long time ago. Lack of far-sightedness had resulted in a 76:24 ratio between the landless and the landed. Out of this blunder we get members in the ruling party who are coal barons while the landless struggle in rat hole mines.
The Kharkongor clan of Pohkseh deserve praise as the hillocks at Lad Smit were distributed to the poor who in course of time may have a shelter of their own.
Maternal and Infant Mortality Rate. Meghalaya tops this list as the State lacks basic health infrastructure. Delivery in private hospitals is becoming costlier hence women in labour risk home delivery. With midwives today fast diminishing, such women are a high risk category. Of course, NEIGRIHMS and Ganesh Das Hospital are there but these two hospitals could never meet the high demand. Besides, connectivity is poor as no one bothers.
Boundary issue :-At last thanks to the interview, we understand the MoU is a political gimmick of the BJP-led central government since our state is a semi-BJP state. They gloated that such blunders left unsolved by past Congress (DNA of BJP to dabble in history) governments are ultimately solved by Amit Shah and Modi. Where on earth do we have legal transactions between two parties where one party dance in joy while our Khasis, Jaintias and Garo are ousted with tears. Worse, the UDP and HSPDP endorse this deal. I still fail to understand how these two parties that sided with the CM can now go and woo the electorate.
The teachers’ woes, boundary issues and most importantly the flawed reservation policy that has devastated our meritorious poor who aim is to be doctors and unemployment are live issues. And now we have legalised gambling and casinos as well as the Hindi push. And with all this rot in governance, the MDA pushes on like a juggernaut. They seem to have influential newcomers like in North Shillong Constituency. Will the people of Jaiaw be blinded when they are supposed to be the brains of Shillong? Will they betray Adelbert Nongrum of KHNAM? The answer could be welcomingly heard from AB. Yes, for the elite the picture looks bright as far as these new NPP aspirants are concerned. But going deep to the grassroots is where we can sense overwhelming resentment against the MDA, especially the NPP. The only problem is whether our voters can withstand the offer of free hospital fees, school fees, books that are subjected to a yearly change, Covid expenditure, bags of rice or sugar etc. And during elections, Alzheimers or Dementia or both are very common.
AB lamented that though the VPP is keen to bring about better governance in 2023 the educated and intellectuals see politics as a dirty game and shun it. Quite a few of such people are more concerned with life after death than the world of politicking on this wretched earth. They forget that the greatest hill state freedom fighter, Hopingstone Lyngdoh was a church elder, who never lost an election till his death and was admired by people of all denominations. Another sad reality is many who wish to save this dying state do not have money while those who have money don’t want to be caught in cheating and bribing or bribe-taking.
The VPP is new but the Revolution was floated two years ago. AB had to go a step further to form a political party as according to him only a political party can change the government which is deeply mired in controversy. A government formed by people of principles with a fine ideology and an oath against defection (the cancer in politics); a government that feels the pain of the have-nots can do miracles to overhaul Meghalaya which has been battered by the MDA government. The tragedy is that the UDP and HSPDP have shut their ears and eyes to all acts of omission and commission of Conrad Sangma and his deputy Prestone Tynsong and may still hide behind Conrad instead of helping the VPP.
Only if the pain felt by the teachers resonates in the constituency of the Education Minister or the pain felt by farmers is felt equally deeply in Mawkynrew, or the dumping of waste is felt in Mawlai and Jowai or the pain of our Rasong farmers in which the banana per cone sold at Laitlum is Rs 300 while at Barabazar it is sold at Rs 4,000 is felt by the aspiring MLA of Nongkrem, then we are glad to announce we are hopeful.
Dr Ambedkar might have erred as regards the Election Rules. Had he been more circumspect, the freebies doled out by sitting MLAs in Jaintia Hills to 3 churches, one year before the 2023 polls might have attracted the Model Code of Conduct. It would be good if these 3 churches do not canvass on social media. Any recognition of good works by politicians should not be on social media. Rather it ought to be confined within the Church premises. This is serious because it could boomerang and create untold damage as also because this particular denomination is the most populous in Meghalaya. Then for an MLA to abandon a constituency that had elected him/her to power is unacceptable. These are unseen circumstances for which laws were not framed 70 years ago as Ambedkar had not foreseen that such blatant breach of laws would be considered normal today.
2023 is going to be crucial. Let’s pray that the next elections would usher in new faces who would hopefully save us from sliding down the precipice to a bottomless pit.