SHILLONG, Nov 4: As part of its Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) requirements, Sankardev College on Friday organised a symposia captioned “Political Parties and Political Participation” where seven political parties of Meghalaya namely the Congress, NPP, VPP, UDP, HSPDP, TMC and BJP participated.
A platform meant to discuss the role of political parties and that of the public as participants in the political process was instead converted into a political platform by nearly all political party representatives who each tried to sell the ideology of their respective parties. This was especially so with respect to the NPP represented by Bajop Pyngrope and the BJP spokesperson FG Shullai.
Shullai started by outlining the meaning of the word Hindutva which he said can be translated to mean ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism.’ He tried his best to explain that the BJP was inclusive and that people were unnecessary trying to create fears about this party which has a long historical tradition. When a member of the audience stood up to give the meaning of Hindutva as it is commonly understood and as propagated by the RSS is “an ideology or movement seeking to establish the supremacy of Hindus and Hinduism in India, Shullai tried to explain what was a faux pas without much conviction.
Another question for Shullai from the audience was “Why does BJP want to remove the word secularism from the Constitution?” The BJP spokesperson said that it was because secularism is a problematic word since some religions kill in the name of secularism. When asked which religion, he named Islam and there was a hush in the audience.
The first to take the podium was Manuel Badwar of the Congress who spoke of the need for transparency in governance. “If the Congress does come back to power we will ensure overall development for every section of society and not the prerogative of a few capitalists. Systems are created by good policies implemented by robust political leadership,” Badwar said.
Relying on his corporate experience, the Congress representative pointed to the market opportunities for small farmer-producer, artisans and anyone with something to sell if a “fulfilment centre” such as that of Amazon is created in Meghalaya.
“A fulfilment centre is like a post office. We have to remember that 60 crore Indians buy stuff online. It is important for Meghalaya also to be the producer for this online trade. This was Government too can earn revenue through GST. We only need to know what, where and how to sell and who’s buying it,” Badwar explained.
Ardent Basaiawmoit of the VPP highlighted the importance of politics and governance in Meghalaya. He compared Singapore to Meghalaya and said in 35 years the former has become a progressive developed nation while the latter is regressing on all parameters. “Meghalaya which is blessed with natural resources is now looking at a bleak future and uncertainty. Our water bodies are contaminated and land polluted. Our forest cover has declined and natural resources depleted,” Ardent stated, adding that the state is suffering from policy paralysis because the goal of all political parties and MLAs is to hold power and political convenience and that leaders are not interested in the people.
Ardent said the VPP was launched because there are no alternatives. “All parties have failed hence it is important to revive, restore and transform Meghalaya. VPP rests on two strong foundations – clean politics and to safeguard the interests of the indigenous people while protecting the constitutional rights of others citizens of the state,” the VPP President said.
Fabian Lyngdoh of Trinamool Congress said that political parties in this venue are all saying “we failed” to provide good governance but in the election platform each one will say “they failed”.
Speaking at length on the reasons for unemployment, Lyngdoh said: “The reason is because our youth have to be able to sell their skills not just in Shillong or Meghalaya but also outside the state.”
He further added that in Meghalaya what is lacking is social development and the narrative of identity is wrongly propagated. “When we lack social leadership it affects political leadership. Because of lack of leadership we feel we are weak. The weak are always afraid of the strong. We are incompetent in many areas. Competence can come from good leadership,” Lyngdoh added.
He also stated that Meghalaya has many leaders but the configuration is all wrong. The right configuration he said is to challenge divisive politics.
UDP’s Jemino Mawthoh flipped back the pages of history and narrated his experience as a politician. He said that the state needs to wake up from its dependency syndrome and learn to look at things differently. Admitting that problems will always be there, he said that one should look ahead at the next 50 years with a positive outlook. He also stressed on the importance of political engagement of the people and touched upon issues like urban congestion, to name a few.
HSPDP president KP Pangniang, a former student of the college, reminded about the past leaders and the hardships endured that led to the attainment of Statehood.
Pangniang said the party stands for the protection of the rights of the hill people and time and again the leaders have given proposals to the government demanding the amendment of para 12 A of the Sixth Schedule which is yet to be fulfilled.
He favoured the demand for ILP and a separate state for the Khasi-Jaintia and the Garo people.
NPP MDC Bajop Pyngrope said that his party has taken steps to resolve various sensitive issues such as the border dispute and encouraged the youth to come and participate in politics.
He talked about the various initiatives taken by the government to reach out to the public at the grassroots especially in the rural areas.
Coordinator of the event, Manbor Warjri said that the objective of the symposium is to be informed of the pressing issues so that people are better prepared when they go to exercise their franchise with elections round the corner.a
