By Aristotle Lyngdoh
“Democracy is when the Indigent, and not the men of property,
are the rulers.” -Aristotle, Greek Philosopher
One of the key features of democracy is when people have the right to vote and the power to change those at the helm of public affairs. And this is what the people of Mawlai have collectively done. The phenomenon that the apple fell from the tree had deeply perplexed Isaac Newton and led to the formulation of gravitational theory that pulls falling objects straight towards the centre of the earth. Similarly, the gravity for want of change in the 15-Mawlai (ST) constituency has pulled down the two most popular politicians of this constituency Teibor Pathaw (Sitting MDC) and PT Sawkmie (Sitting MLA) from the coveted position as MLA. In fact both of them had very high hopes of wresting the seat from one another because of the developmental work they have undertaken in the past five years as MDC and MLA of this constituency.
The unexpected landslide victory of the VPP candidate has left other contestants and many of us baffled and shocked as to how on earth could this happen. But for the winning VPP candidate, Brightstar Marbañiang, I think it’s a miracle where he himself could not ponder how the waves went in his favour. Marbaniang’s victory is despite the fund constraints to organize rallies and frequent public meetings and campaigns involving considerable amounts of money, let alone the feasting and partying in the candidate’s residence. Also there were rare public speeches and appearances unlike other candidates. Still the voters resonated with the slogan ‘Ha U Prah’ in every nook and corner of Mawlai.
The sudden change of wave, days before the voting day seemed to have been inspired by someone, where voters both young and old, poor and rich, educated and uneducated echoed the same inner voice and that is the need for a change. Looking at the vote shares by all the candidates of this constituency, Marbañiang secured 24,262 votes, which is 60 percent of the total valid votes polled, thereby, leaving other contestants to lose their security deposits other than the NPP candidate. This is indeed a historical feat that such overwhelming support for a lesser known and unpopular young entrant into politics is nothing but an act of God. Here I can say that for the first time people of Mawlai voted rationally for the party VPP which stands for clean politics and integrity of the candidates. But had the VPP fielded any Tom, Dick and Harry just for the sake of fielding candidates, the outcome would have been disastrous.
Lest we forget, some years ago, Mawlai was tagged as a slum locality for the fact that this part of Shillong city has sheltered many underprivileged families, the uneducated, the poor and the needy as well. But yet they resisted money, freebies and other kinds of allurements. And if one is a keen observer and reads the voting patterns or follows the trends, it clearly shows that money power and election emotions have totally failed to overpower the will of the people when they rationally yearn for a change. This is an exemplary model that the people of Mawlai constituency have adopted. It also resembled the 1977 Lok Sabha elections where Morarji Desai became the first non-congress Prime Minister of India with overwhelming support of 345 seats for the Janata Party. The arbitrary imposition of emergency in June 1975 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had aroused the sentiments of the people who voted both Mrs Gandhi and her son Sanjay Gandhi out of power. This is the power that people possess if they are united and understand the consequences when freedom and democracy are at stake.
There is no doubt that in India, the role of emotions is significant in shaping the voter’s choice that affects electoral outcomes. We cannot also rule out the influence of businessmen who capitalize from the emotions of voters and the use of money power to buy votes in most of the constituencies of this small state – Meghalaya. The reason for this is perhaps to capture and turn the mechanism of decision making power to themselves. And for quite some time now, elected representatives have become masters of democracy and the legislative processes of the state too. They adopted laws and ordinances that indirectly benefit them politically and monetarily. Therefore, the nature of government is more plutocratic and oligarchic or a government run by the few rich and wealthy people. This has happened because people have lost their voices when they have forfeited their voting rights to the candidate who bought them. But for the Mawlai voters, this is not so. The mood of contentment prevails in the constituency because people have done their part. And what remains is the accountability and transparency of the elected member to do justice to the job that has been entrusted to him as a legislator. Therefore, the MLA or MDC report card on various schemes being implemented, will not be the criteria to retain the seat in future, unless they perform well as legislators. And this is the spirit when people have voted with good conscience and sound understanding.
Moreover, if this trend continues, I firmly believe that a revolution of change will happen where money power is not the sole factor for contesting and winning elections. It is high time that citizens across the state and country should come together irrespective of religions, caste, tribe and language to vote for development and upliftment of the people and society. Mawlai voters have clearly led the way in this regard to prove to the world what it means to say ‘by the people, for the people’. This shows that democracy belongs to the people and they are the ones who should take the final call as to who should be elected, re-elected and rejected for legislative authority.
In the era of fractured electoral mandate in this Hills State, the ray of hope and silver lining lies only in the unity and understanding of the people who alone can change the corrupt practices of our political system and that should begin from home at the constituency level. Mawlai electorates understand clearly that development of Mawlai constituency alone is meaningless if the whole state is lagging behind in every area of life, be it education, health, agriculture, etc. The only way forward is through sound public policies which can only be addressed by the learned legislators that each constituency can produce.