The Hynniewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO), another pressure group claiming to fight for the rights of the Hynniewtrep people in a state of many ethnic communities that have co-existed in the State of Meghalaya is presumptuous to say the least. The word Hynniewtrep is essentially used to play mind games with ordinary people who don’t stop to think about the consequences of such divisive politics. The latest demand by HITO is that the recent cabinet reshuffle should have seen the exit of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and he being replaced by a Khasi or Jaintia MLA. In a world that’s turning global and relationships are built over continents, courtesy the digital technology it is ridiculous to suggest that even the chief ministerial post should be rotated. The question is whether this is HITO’s own agenda or that of forces working behind the scenes.
Political observers will agree that the MDA 1&2 government has taken several initiatives in the area of Health, Tourism, Industry and that the Government has engaged with the issues plaguing education in the state. Education comes with a huge backlog since the problems have been allowed to simmer instead of being tackled head on. Ghost schools were allowed to function due to political pressure. The condition of several schools in the State but more so in Garo Hills is pathetic. The MDA-2 Government has at least publicly acknowledged the existence of such schools and will be pushed to take action. The Opposition should have rightly demanded that such schools be closed down at once but such discussions did not feature during the Assembly sessions. The three tribes agreed to jointly fight for statehood and on certain agreed terms. Hence the job Reservation Policy with 40:40:20 ratio came up and is still working. The idea was to allow a space where the three tribes would arrive at a point where they are equally competent. Just as the Constitution mandates that the Reservation Policy at the national level should be revisited every ten years, the leaders of Meghalaya then should have agreed on a similar agreement. But revising the Policy requires evidence-based research to establish if the Garo community has come at par with the Khasi-Jaintia people.
To drag the Reservation Policy into the realm of politics is an overreach that is better disregarded. The NPP is today in the majority with 33 MLAs and does not really need parties with 2 MLAs to support the Government, but keeping in mind the fluid coalition politics of Meghalaya, CM Conrad Sangma has tread cautiously so as not to offend the coalition partners. Politics has its constraints and only those in the rough and tumble of it can grasp its pitfalls. Politics means having to accommodate the whims of those who manage the Party’s finances. This is certainly not an ideal arrangement and it happens because elections cost money. If the influence of money power is reduced, carpetbaggers will have no place in politics. Ideally the most competent, no matter from which tribe should run the government. Its time to free our minds of ethnocentric biases.
