The controversy sparked off by non-inclusion of the Jaintia lyrics in the State Anthem is likely to become a political hot potato sooner than later. The present MDA Government will be projected as one that has tried to make light of the weighty issue of non-inclusion of a major component of Meghalaya’s tribal cosmos – the Jaintia people. Many scholars and intellectuals have lent their weight behind this issue because of the simple reason that every introductory foreword about Meghalaya is prefaced by words such as, “The three major tribes of Meghalaya are the Khasis, Jaintias and Garos.” Never has the word Jaintia been excluded from the definition of Meghalaya although the origin myths of the so-called Hynniew trep, Hynniew skum or the seven hearths is oft repeated.
Over a period of time a certain political dimension has been constructed where the Jaintia Hills with 7 MLAs was pointed out as not ever having produced a Jaintia Chief Minister. No other region was called out as if the 29 other MLAs representing the Khasi-Jaintia region are all included in Khasi. Ri Bhoi district has 5 constituencies but they have always been considered an integral part of the Khasi Hills. The West Khasi Hills combined, too have 7 MLAs but it has never been the political lingua franca to say that a “Maram/Lyngngam” has never become the Chief Minister of Meghalaya. The first well-known patriotic anthem – Khynriam U Pnar/U Bhoi U War/U dei u paid Khasi baiar,” seems to have been relegated to the dustbin if history because of the emergence of a sort of political narcissism as opposed to an inclusive altruism.
Those at the helm of governance should have anticipated this storm in the basin (not the proverbial tea-cup) had they been more grounded and wisely sought the views of a cross section of people. To assert that there is the primacy of two languages in Meghalaya with English being the common bond, is an intellectual rationale but as noted psychologist and writer Daniel Goleman says, emotions influence us more than reason because they are found within a more primitive and deeper part of our brains. They are at the basis of everything we are. Emotions play a vital role in elections and have nearly the same weightage as money power. The very fact that an election anthem of a particular political party has been so embraced that it was played at the recent State Games at Tura and had athletes gyrating to it should inform us about the power of a song to electrify a people or group to the point that they would vote for the candidates of that party. Clearly those in government don’t understand the power of emotions especially when it comes to an ethnic group’s attachment to its self-image.
