Meghalaya has a peculiar political culture where daily briefings on developments vis-a-vis the Covid infection and other public-related information such as lockdowns etc., are chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister instead of the Health Minister. In all other states, the Health Ministers assisted by a team from the Health Department that include medical specialists give their daily briefings to the media, in case health related questions need to be answered. It is only in Delhi that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal fields all questions and he has done his job commendably other than the faux-pas about the Singapore variant of Covid entering India through air travel from Singapore, hence the need to stop air travel to and from that country. Naturally this created a diplomatic flutter with India’s Minister for External Affairs and the Indian diplomatic corp having to pacify their Singapore counterpart saying Kejriwal does not speak for India.
Meghalaya seems to be on the same slippery slope as far as press briefings go. Last week the Deputy CM when asked about the difficulties that daily wagers face and whether the Government has a bail-out package for them, replied instead that people should cut meat out of their diets and stick to rice and vegetables. This is akin to what Marie Antoinette the French Queen during the French Revolution told starving peasants when they said they had no bread to eat. The Queen told them to eat cake instead. This biting sarcasm finally led to her execution. The Deputy CM has later apologized but by then all kinds of memes have circulated over social media. This demeans the stature of the Deputy CM who is no longer taken seriously.
On another note, perhaps the Deputy CM is also blissfully unaware that Meghalaya has a huge chunk of people earning their livelihoods from butchery. They have been groaning under the weight of livelihoods loss since the regular tranche of beef cattle coming from Assam is now largely diverted to Bangladesh. If beef, which used to be the poor person’s protein has now slipped out of the palate, it is a cause of concern that the Government ought to address instead of giving people unsolicited advice to turn vegetarian. After the travel restrictions due to the pandemic, beef is now in short supply and prices have jumped up, thereby making it unaffordable for ordinary mortals. Granted that red meat may have dropped off the menu of most adults but children and young people need their quota of protein that beef and other meats provide. Needless to say chicken and pork are not a staple for many here. Government needs to address the issue on two counts (a) ensure regular supply of beef cattle because of its nutritional value for most households (b) exercise its minds on helping butchers sustain their livelihoods.
