Are We Still Stuck in Distributional Politics and Party Hopping?

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 8, 2022

General elections in Meghalaya are just a year away and the Citizens will have to elect a new set of Public Servants or MLAs, whose primary or constitutional duty is to legislate laws, formulate policies and also to debate on issues that matter the people of the State. It is the fundamental duty of the citizens to participate in this democratic process in order to decide and elect those representatives. Though electoral politics is not the end all or be all, but it is crucial as it impact peoples’ lives and being. However, electoral participation can be more than one way, but it should not be blinded by the primordial idea of kinship and personal relations or even goodness of a candidate. Further emotions and parochialism must not be the grounds for electoral interventions. In an age which information and data analytics have superseded almost all aspects of our lives, electoral interventions have to be sound, reasonable, objective and magnanimous.

The parliamentary system and the Constitution have not only given us the democratic space but also given people the liberty to create their own spaces for debates and dissent which can be capitalised to the maximum before deciding to elect the public servants. Thus, electoral intervention is about debates and dissents which people should not shy away from. On no account must we allow money or distributional politics destroy this essential aspect of our democracy, lest we run the risk of handing the reins of our beloved 50 years old State into the hands of a few rich families. Irrespective of ideologies or whether one is on the right or left or centre, prospective candidates need to come out and debate. It is imperative on the citizens to bring them to the platform and confronting them with issues, policies and laws.

Prospective candidates need not only show their faces in “paid functions” which are organized on their behalf, but also be ready to debate and expound in public forum their core beliefs and principles or ideology and ideas which they have for rebuilding the State. For example, what policies do they intend to formulate for the daily wage and unorganized workers, bus and taxi drivers? What plans do they have for employment generation? What idea do they have for protecting the indigenous citizens and other minorities of the State against the domination of majoritarian community? What laws do they intend to legislate to protect tribal culture which includes protecting the land holding system and ecology from being exploited by both tribal elites and big corporates from outside the State? What solutions do they have to offer, to bring about communal co-existence and not allowing lumpen elements to rule the roost, sans double speaking?

Health and education are the primary indicators for development but sadly in Meghalaya they are the most ignored sectors and therefore what policies do they wish to offer in this aspect? The people of the State need to know and through this process the electorates will be able to make an informed choice. These and many other questions are crucial for the reason that in distributional politics there are several targeted groups which prospective candidates like predators, feast on and with money buy away the economically poor and vulnerable sections.

At 50 what does Meghalaya need? The State has to progress and for the State to grow and progress one must challenge and confront the distributional and divisive politics head on. The State and people must prioritise the issues and act accordingly- the plight of unorganized workers, small and medium business enterprises, teachers, students, health workers, cultivators, farmers and employment generation have to be addressed concretely and immediately with a pro-workers approach. Health care and education must take precedence in legislation or formulation and should be people centric. The State or society should no longer ignore its daughters, which compose more than half of the population, while legislating laws for grass roots governance. More so, corruption and criminalization of politics and governance has to be stopped at all costs. Today we are not just normalizing the two but also internalizing and consider them as way of life. It is quite interesting that the honourable Home Minister and Deputy Chief Minister sermonizing on child rearing so as not to produce bomb makers. Perhaps, they must also be told that children should not be reared to become corrupt when they grow up.

The economic rights and entitlements of the people are never in the forefront of any political discourse in the State. The discourse on these vital economic issues needs to be tagged along with the debate on the economy of the State. What should be the economic policy, rather economic production? How to channelize the entrepreneurial spirit of our youths and not to waste them by cheap politicking. There are many enterprising, creative and passionate young people with no political connections whatsoever and whose dreams are being washed away by the politics of favouritism.

Recently, there was the demand to review the State’s reservation policy. I respect the youths for questioning the state’s policy, but I disagree with idea and proposition that reservation for the Khasi-Jaiῆtia and Garo should be based on population of these tribes. In fact, if the reservation policy is to be reviewed it has to take into account the economic conditions and the State should not deviate from the established principle that reservation is primarily meant for the economically unsound and politically backward sections of society. Thus, in case of Meghalaya one has to come out with a formula where landless tribals and economically unsound sections of society should be given preference in both government and private sectors and also in educational institutions.

Meghalaya largely depends on Central funding and this has also given rise to misconception that the State should be ruled by the same party or partners of the Central government. This is totally wrong and has to be challenged on the basis that India is a Union of States. Tribal State like Meghalaya acceded and entered into an agreement as equal partner and joined the Union of India under the Constitution. No doubt our contribution towards the Union is minimal compare with bigger States in terms of taxation and production. But whatever the amount of financial support which the Centre has to respectfully give us and for how long, is on the basis of the agreement that the people of India chose to accept on the 26 January 1950. Therefore, we need to reclaim and reinforce the idea of shared federalism and this idea does not necessarily apply to just politics and economics, but also to culture and beliefs.

It is the constitutional duty of the State to provide basic amenities like road, footpath, drainage, electricity, water, sanitation, waste bin, public health and education etc to every village or Shnong. Therefore, the Village Administration law comes into play and grass roots governance are so vital in implementing these essential rights. But to the contrary, in Meghalaya, villages are being subjected to the whims and fancies of MLAs, MPs or even MDCs for that matter. Rights and entitlements are being so easily politicised due to lack of robust and democratic governance. Implementation of essential schemes in Villages or Shnong, both rural and urban, are depending on the MLAs. This should not be the case at all if the State has a legally sound and democratic civic bodies at the grass roots. Our polity, is being reduced to drainage or “nala” politics whereby a prospective candidate would energetically inspect incomplete drains and accused the other for not being a good public servant. However, the solution to this is simple, the democratically elected body of Shnong or Village should be solely responsible for providing and managing basic amenities and MLAs as Public Servants should be barred by law from interfering in such matters. At the same time, Social Audit Law is already in place and must not be kept in the shelve, rather it must be fully implemented.

Party hopping and political turn coats are legendary in Meghalaya’s politics. The electorates have already been greeted by this in the recent past and more are expected in the coming days. Again, very early we are seeing signs and movement of distributional politics. Unlike in the past where only common materials like blankets, cooking utensils, school and medical bills, funeral, cultural and sports tournament expenses would be distributed, but now a new list has been added with the new found technology like CCTVs, Laptops, Android phones etc. Also, JCB machines are the new metaphor in electoral narrative of the State.  

For democracy to survive we need to adhere to the core values and principles. And those core values which emanate from movements for social, economic and political justice need to be expounded in public sphere. We should not allow that our polity be guided by the politics of distribution and political turn coats for the next 50 years. It is never too late to put up a challenge and the time is now.

By Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh