By Philip Marwein
The news item “Organisational churning in BJP, Congress likely” (ST March 6, 2023 is interesting as it revealed the truth. Yes, the BJP has been in Meghalaya for over 32 years. This is a long period and if the party cannot grow in strength in terms of having many MLAs there must be some fundamental reasons that this most popular widely accepted ruling party of India cannot expand and grow here. In Meghalaya the name of this party is widely known in every nook and corner through the media but there are no leaders and workers working and engaging with the masses in the Districts and Mandals (Blocks), not to mention in different hamlets and villages. Yes there are leaders but only in the state capital and in one or two districts but where are the grassroot leaders and workers?
Leaders and workers should come from amongst the masses who live and die with them. When elections are due, there’s a hectic search for candidates overnight and randomly in all 60 constituencies. What’s this foolish action by the state leaders including the BJP leader in charge of Meghalaya? The most prudent and correct step is to set up viable candidates only in those focal constituencies where there are grassroots leaders and workers who have been working and engaging among the masses for a considerable period of time. What were the state BJP leaders doing all these years? The number of MLAs remained static at just two whereas there were at least six or seven promising constituencies from where the party should have won with thumping margins during the last elections considering the effort and investments that the party High Command had invested.
What is important to do henceforth is for the state party leaders to work hard and ceaselessly with proper planning and strategies. Where are the good works done by the state BJP leaders seen on the ground? None at all. If the leaders are there in the office only to expect funds coming from Delhi and to share it among themselves and no tangible results on the grounds then it will never grow even if elections come in 2028, 2033 and 2038. Yes, heads in the Meghalaya BJP State Mandal have to roll if the party has to play a major partner in ruling the state in the near future. For how long will it have to wait, even though it has long term plans for the future? I am cynical about its positive outcome in the foreseeable future. For this the state Mandal has to do a lot of introspection and diagnosis to fix the omissions commissions.
As for the Congress it already has its Organisational set up and vote bank built over the years but it is in serious crisis in its state leadership. It just needs a capable and dynamic leader to lead from the front as Vincent Pala has failed to win even from his own turf and far from attaining state leadership stature. Even winning the next Lok Sabha seat in 2024 is in serious doubt because the political equations and dynamics have now changed in many Assembly segments. Is the vote bank of the Congress intact or has it been reduced in 2023? Certainly, it has. Having said that, the Congress also required immediate shake up of leadership in a number of Blocks which have witnessed mass exodus of its top leaders to NPP and other parties. In spite of the mass exodus of leaders it was able to win five seats because of second rank leaders. If not for this exodus the Congress might have secured a majority on its own in the last elections.
However, it has to go back to the drawing board, adopt suitable planning and strategies and work harder for MDC and MP elections which are hardly a year from now. At the same time it has to find out ways and means together with other opposition colleagues and in partnership with some bigger ruling factions, on how to deflate the tyres of NPP driven vehicles.
Coming to the Trinamool Congress I can say that it has done quite well by securing five seats in spite of odds stacked against it. Being a new entrant in the state to reach out to the electorate of Meghalaya is not easy because voters here are hesitant to vote for a new party. Then TMC has an arduous journey ahead to make itself politically relevant and to seize power in Meghalaya in the near future not single handedly of course, but in coalition with others in politically, mutually acceptable norms.
With regards to the UDP it has offered itself as a sacrificial lamb at the altar of NPP. Its hope to rise is very remote but its fear to fall looms large in the horizon. With the hope of giving more stability to the NPP led government it will slowly be sapped of its vibrancy, vitality and relevance by the NPP. In any case NPP does not need the UDP; it is the other round. UDP has no bargaining power in the new dispensation unlike during 2018-2022. At the end of this term it will find itself on dry ground without water unless it can manage to wriggle out of its present predicament.
As for VPP its future prospects will be very bright provided it can play its cards well and perform its role effectively and splendidly. It all depends on Its think tank.