Political reflexes are difficult to predict. In a patronage democracy where the MLA is actually the dispenser of freebies, being in the Opposition is starving the constituents. Joining the ruling party means a political appointment which assures the MLA of at least some crumbs of office so that some of the crumbs can filter down to the constituents. The Voice of Peoples’ Party (VPP) has been trying to educate the electorate not to expect money or freebies during elections but perhaps the Party must also talk to the electorate that the daily demands from the MLA are not sustainable and is the prime reason why Meghalaya is in the doldrums on every human development indicator. How on earth can an MLA address the personal needs of people 365 days a year except when he/she is travelling out of town and is gallivanting in the US or some other country on the plea of delivering wisdom to people whose format of democracy is completely alien to ours. There is no such thing as distributing freebies in the US. In fact, in the US there are individual supporters of the party and candidate that become fund raisers for their candidates. Can this be imagined in India? Only corporates and businesspersons will dish out huge amounts after extracting a promise that upon winning and forming the government the amount would be returned a hundredfold. This has been the modus-operandi adopted since 1972 when the state was formed and the modus operandi continues.
When political reflexes are in a crisis people indulge in political somersaults. The Congress Party in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills has been in the dog-house because it lacks charismatic leadership. A charismatic leader leads from the front and is always talking to the people via the media. In this day and age of social media and handles such as X (formerly Twitter) available, political leaders are always communicating to the world; to their party colleagues about their plans of action. Silence hardly works in politics. Look at the constant tweets of Congress leader Jairam Ramesh against the Prime Minister. Those tweets are meant to bolster the energy of party workers and to tell them that the Congress shall overcome all odds one day and return to power. But in Meghalaya, barring Garo Hills where Saleng Sangma seems to be in control, in the Khasi- Jaintia and Ri Bhoi districts the Congress is in meltdown mode. While the Congress in other states seems to have recovered its losses and in a spirited fight with the BJP, in Meghalaya the opposite is happening. At this rate the Congress looks like it might lose its Leader of the Opposition status sooner than later.
