By Aristotle Lyngdoh
“Democracy as the primary foundation for development, equality, justice, etc. seems to have been forfeited or surrendered by the people to someone they wanted to vote for. And this has led to the fragility of the electorates and polarisation of electoral outcomes. Thus, the scope to get a people-oriented government that can make the state shine and grow from development to further development in every aspect has been kept in the dark.”
‘Rome was not built in a day’ is an English translation from the collection of French phrases ‘Li proverbe au Vilain’ published in 1190. It speaks about the selfless efforts, time, and dedication that the architects and stakeholders of the Roman Empire had rendered towards Rome. But today things are just the opposite. People want everything instantly. Even ILP in five minutes as one legislator had promised. This is a trend now, and it reflects how the power of money can easily replace the honesty and transparency of hard work.
Having said so, the incidents are so glaringly evident. From jobs, promotion and educational degrees to politics and wealth acquisition, the encroachment of money is unstoppable. And as the election approaches we are witnessing every day how the offer of pocket money and announcement about schemes flies like missiles in the war-torn state. And it is interesting to see how candidates testified to the crores of rupees being offered to them by political parties like the anti-ballistic missiles that Ukraine desperately wants to buy. This is the politics of this generation.
Politics in our state is no longer the art to govern righteously. With the new adage in recent years such as ‘coalition’, winnability’ the terms that point to the magic number that helps to claim the right to govern in the name of democracy, the integrity of governance has been piteously reduced to a mere theatre of entertainment. What a shame to reach this level. And this ludicrous concept of ‘winnability’ is nothing but a fallen angel investment where a bond that was given a triple rating initially was later downgraded to a junk status. Such is the standard of politics in this present generation.
Democracy as the primary foundation for development, equality, justice, etc. seems to have been forfeited or surrendered by the people to someone they wanted to vote for. And this has led to the fragility of the electorates and polarisation of electoral outcomes. Thus, the scope to get a people-oriented government that can make the state shine and grow from development to further development in every aspect has been kept in the dark.
To understand this phenomenon of fragility, let us try to categorise the different groups of voters according to their expectations and mentality of their social profession.
The first category are the enlightened ones and the intellectuals who believe in the theory of strong public policies but they are only a handful. Most of them never attend election rallies or meetings but they know and understand what is happening in politics.
The numerous categories are the blue-collar workers which include the farmers and cultivators as well. This category constitutes most of the uneducated and semi-educated individuals. They are the category of people who have all the time for election rallies, meetings, feasting, etc. without any cares at all. It is in this category that most of the political aspirants bank their investment opportunity with allurement. The higher the monetary investment, the greater the chance to win voters. And perhaps because of this, the idea of ‘winnability’ too has emerged.
Then there are sizable independent, average middle class voters but they are guided by their personal choices, emotions and relationships. This category is socially indifferent and less concerned with the socio-economic condition of the entire state and society except for the well being of their related members. We also have communal voters where a particular community, clan or religion, prefer the person who supports their immediate cause and concern rather than the interest of the whole state.
Last but not the least are the social activists and these include the business lobbyists, the unemployed/self-employed, etc. They also sometimes serve as middle men between the government and politicians and the uninformed electorates. Their intention is to climb the political ladder and pitch themselves to that ‘winnability’ factor by invoking a sense of insecurity on the community through various issues thereby portraying themselves as saviour of that community and tribes. But they are not the class of political leaders that the state needs.
With the advent of the business mind in politics not only has it degraded the integrity of politics but it also damaged the internal mechanism of governance that has also percolated down to every level of administration. We cannot expunge right away the fact that elections today are fought not on policy matters but on who can ensure more regular pocket money in the savings accounts of the constituents. And the accumulation of voters in various categories over these years has also helped those in power to consolidate their vote bank as their prime asset for electioneering.
Let us not forget that the voting pattern and style in our state has not shown any drastic changes over these years except parties and government names. The reality is that when a person has voted for a candidate, he/she is habituated to vote for the second time as well. It is disheartening to see that people do not believe in ideology anymore nor do they have one. No one understands party politics and ideology in Meghalaya.
Manifestos are meaningless. What voters believe and follow is the whimsical charisma of an individual candidate. They are so sincere and blindly loyal even at the cost of development of the state and society itself. This has so happened because of the fact that we the people have lost the power to generate new kind of a political intelligentsia in the field of governance and thus the kind of politics that we have nurtured throughout these years is shoddy and of inferior quality.
I wonder how BB Lyngdoh would feel if he were still alive today to see how the MLA schemes are being grossly abused for the personal benefit of the MLA to retain his/her seat. The good intention that the legislators had in those days to help MLAs finance their constituencies’ small financial demands such as donations etc. has become a goldmine for the sitting legislators today. Thank God that the Narendra Modi Government at the centre had initiated steps to abolish the MPLAD schemes in a phased manner. And this is the reason perhaps why most of our MPs are eyeing to enter state politics.
In the same manner, the good intentions that the architects of the Three-flags coalition government in 1978 had was to unite the three regional parties for the good cause of the state. It was also during this year that the prime asset of the people and the state, The Land Transfer Act 1978 came into existence till today. Whereas, in today’s coalition, the goal is primarily to enrich the coalition partners.
The time is now for us to decide on how we want the future of children to be or should they also continue to languish in the slavery of fragility.
“They also sometimes serve as middle men between the government and politicians and the uninformed electorates. Their intention is to climb the political ladder and pitch themselves to that ‘winnability’ factor by invoking a sense of insecurity on the community through various issues thereby portraying themselves as saviour of that community and tribes.”
(The writer is an educator and can be contacted at [email protected])