Politics makes strange bedfellows. Nowhere is this phrase more appropriate than it is in Meghalaya where political parties with divergent ideologies and interests can quickly get together for a marriage of convenience. The five MLAs who left the Congress in 2021 went and supported the MDA government which had the BJP as a supporting partner. It also goes to show that in Meghalaya a political party is a temporary parking space until politicians find a better, more lucrative space. The fact that such people continue to win elections no matter how many times they change uniforms is also because voters themselves don’t care too much about what a political party stands for but are more interested in what the MLA has delivered especially at the personal level or what the prospective MLA promises to deliver if he/she is elected.
Democracy requires some understanding about the role of political parties and how their ideology influences the decisions they take even in the sphere of governance. India was imagined as a country that is inclusive of all caste, creed and religions. Over the years this accepted belief has undergone a transformation. Under the BJP rule there is an overt and covert attempt to spread the idea that all Indians were Hindus who later converted to different religions and therefore have to be brought back to the original fold. Regional parties are there to counter this attempt to homogenise a hugely diverse population. This is true especially of the tribes of the North Eastern states that are of Tibeto-Burman or Austro-Asiatic origin and have little in common with the “mainstream” Indian culture. It is worrying that a political party backed by an organisation whose aim is to spread the idea of Hindutva meaning one cultural and religious worldview should have gained acceptance in these hill states that on the one hand want to keep out fellow Indians from their areas by instruments like the Inner Line Permit.
The BJP too has played its cards well in the North East and steered clear of elephants in the room namely – religion and the beef ban. And this is what has perhaps attracted more fans in states like Nagaland and Mizoram where Christianity is much more upfront and louder than in the other states. In these states the BJP has reinvented itself as the crusader for development -Vikas, which seems to have struck a chord with the public that has been suffering from huge infrastructural deficits in the last 50 years. Basics such as piped water and electricity have passed them by for half a century. It is the promise of restoration of these basic rights that has captured the imagination of voters. Whether those promises will translate to votes is a matter of conjecture until the results start trickling in. Until then every party is a winner. It’s the government formation part that will be interesting to watch.