Conflict of interest is taken for granted in Meghalaya. A businessperson contests the State Assembly or ADC election and uses that position to further his/her business interest. Let’s take one example. The former minister in charge of PHED was also a contractor and the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme was implemented during his tenure. The present Deputy Chief Minister is part of a construction company and his firm carries out road and other construction in the state. Is it possible for the government to act fairly while awarding contracts for road construction when a minister’s company is also a tenderer? It is unfortunate that this aspect of corruption has never been the subject of public debate when it should have been a priority.
A priori it is wrong for a businessperson to enter politics for the simple reason that the person’s first priority is his/her business. All claims about serving the public is hogwash which has been used to brainwash people over decades. In the past Meghalaya had full time politicians who only relied on businesspersons to fund them during elections. Quite a few MLAs were college professors and were independent minded in the positions they took. They would not have supported the illegal coal trade as the MDA Government has done without batting an eyelid and using the entire state machinery to further this illegal trade where individuals benefit at the cost of the state which is losing over Rs 600 crores of annual revenue. Conflict of interest is when a person uses his/her position to further personal interests over public interests. A quick look at the affidavits filed by sitting MLAs and MDCs informs us of their wealth status. Not a single one of them knows the meaning of poverty simply because they don’t come from poor households. An MLA from a distant constituency of Meghalaya’s rural outback owns land in the elite localities of Shillong and in the New Shillong Township. All these have been acquired because of the positions they hold. Some ministers in the present government own hundreds of acres of land which they have managed to purchase from clans and communities. A research into the land ownership system of the Khasi-Jaintia people will reveal major faultlines where some clans own hectares of land and other clans are landless. Where is the egalitarianism that Khasis speak of with such pride? Would an egalitarian society have amongst its folds landless members who do not even own a simple homestead for a shelter. And even if they do have a shelter they are all bundled into a single room that doubles up as a kitchen and bedroom all in one?
This is the stark reality of Meghalaya but those in politics are inured and distanced from these realities. Yet we expect them to make policies that will address these gross inequities? For the political class the more disempowered people are the easier it is to win votes by bribing them during election time and reducing them to slavishly dependent voters. Which political party will challenge this inequitable rule of the affluent by the affluent for the affluent since there is not a single poor MLA among the 60 elected members?
