The Ram temple will feature in a big way in the BJP’s election manifesto for having fulfilled one of what it believes is the aspiration of the average Hindu Indian – to build a Ram Temple in Ayodhya after a standing mosque there was demolished in December 1996. The BJP and its support base the RSS have always made religion a core issue for every election. Muslims have been demonised and the Islam faith considered regressive. Words like “love jihad” have been coined by the present government since it took over in 2014. By design the Muslims and other minorities have been considered second class citizens whose loyalty to the nation is routinely questioned.
While it is a fact that several pro-people schemes have been crafted by the present government and the direct to beneficiary transfer (DBT) has built a sort of trust in the government’s delivery system since all middle level interferences are done away with, the identification of beneficiaries is still faulty. Very often only those close to political parties and politicians avail the schemes while others with no clout continue to suffer in abject poverty. Contrary to the claims of the Modi Government the economy is not as buoyant as projected. There is a slowdown in job creations as borne out by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) reports. And this is visible in the states as well, including Meghalaya. So what are the issues for the Lok Sabha polls going to be for Meghalaya in particular.
In preparation for the Lok Sabha elections the State BJP has already sharpened its fangs by threatening to do a series of RTI’s to fault the MDA Government of which it is an important ally. This is hypocrisy at its worst. If the BJP believes as it did with the MDA-1 Government and now the MDA-2 Government that there is corruption galore and that this aspect has been normalised in Meghalaya then it should have the moral courage to walk out of the coalition. People are not fooled by such chicanery. They fully understand the political shenanigans that will be in full display as the elections approach.The issues of Meghalaya – and there are many cannot be subsumed by issues plaguing the central government. People of Meghalaya suffer from bad road conditions and roads are largely funded by the central government. Where the central government is at fault is in its weak monitoring and evaluation system. Money released to the states or projects implemented by central agencies in the states are all marked by delays. This needs to be addressed because money down the drain serves no purpose. It is important for the centre to get its money’s worth and centrally funded road projects must equal quality national highways. Will the railways be yet another election issue and for how many decades? When will this cease to become an issue?
