By Gregory Shullai
These days one is compelled to view everything the government does with cynicism because whatever this Government does there is endless evidence of suspected corruption so much so that it has now become the norm that the only definite corruption in society is Government, or originating from Government. I perhaps risk something when I allow such a truth to escape; I am advised to let others state it and give it “the milk of pious sentiment” that it will lie down quiet and forgotten in some decrepit corner, but that would mean a silent support of the act, therefore I will proceed cautiously but plainly on this subject.
We do not have politicians…we have imposters posing as politicians, and because of that politics has become the source of corruption – nothing else. These imposters posing as politicians are not bothered about honesty and progress; neither do they take any responsibility for the moral values that citizens must live up to nor do they care for the future of the people of the State, which essentially is the objective of politics. Benefitting or hurting others is all that the Government is concerned with because that is the only way it can show that it exercises power over others; and because of this it has led to chaos in our youth – if it’s not already apparent now it will be too late when the people finally discern it. Certainly, the state in which our youth are being hurt is as inversely agreeable, in an adulterated way, as that in which our leaders benefit from being in politics. The recent report of the Enforcement Directorate investigating the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council is a shame – why did the State Government not take action earlier. The future is bleak – we are headed for a total collapse.
Consider the case of the recently concluded Cherry Blossom Festival. To be moral or ethical means to obey the established law or custom, and in the case of the Cherry Blossom Festival (CBF) the custom of keeping accounts for expenditure was blatantly dispensed with. The recent CBF was dually sponsored by the Government of Meghalaya and the Meghalayan Age Ltd – each reportedly contributing Rs 5 Crore. There’s nothing wrong with that, but here’s where it went wrong. A Right to Information Act (RTI) was filed by one Napolean Mafynyong (the spelling may be wrong but this is how it was spelt in the WhatsApp Message that is doing the rounds) and the reply he reportedly got was – “details not available,” and that is bad because “good” is what we call a thing when it is done in the manner that it is meant to be done, as if done naturally, easily and routinely and a reply, “details not available” is not a good reply, because when Government money is spent, a reply of this sort indicates a prima facie wrong which the average person would naturally stamp as immoral and opposed to tradition, however reasonable or stupid the tradition may be. We normally would categorize as ‘immoral’ anything that is done to deliberately depart from the norm, which requires that an account “shall” be maintained and audited before the expenditure can be settled as being in public interest. A response “details not available” is a departure and a violation of that tradition. The circumstances that have arisen by the reply furnished to the RTI is totally detached from the established norms of accountability, and is therefore deemed as corruption till accounts are made available. Why and how this tradition is applicable in a public participation programme is no different with regard for the good or evil or any other imperative because the people expect that rules and orders must be followed and that detaching from them is dangerous, especially for the community because the community cannot allow public money to be used without accounting for the expenditure.
Government is supposed to be elected by the people and for the people implying that it should serve the people…does it? We do not want a corrupt government – do our leaders not understand that? It is very clear now, after reading the total lack of accountability in the expenditure for hosting the Cherry Blossom Festival 2025 that behaviour or corruption, once considered unacceptable by our people, is now being deemed normal if conducted by the Government. This, if true, establishes an even stranger contention that politics is the only profession where you can lie, cheat, and steal, and not be prosecuted, and still be respected. Because of such indecent acts, politics has become synonymous with corruption and this spells doom for the people – especially the younger generation. They will suddenly discover that there is nothing that they can do and nowhere they can go to find success in life by living off the sweat of the brow. In short, they will have no control over their own life and when they discover that, which I think they already have, they turn to anything that can temporarily deliver them from the abject feeling of being lost, of having nowhere to go and with nothing to do, except waste their lives away. Just see the number of drug addicts in the State and that will affirm the above statement.
Whether corruption, which now distinguishes the Govt of Meghalaya, can be called civilization or humanitization or progress or whatever one calls it, indicates that a strange process is taking place and gathering greater and ever greater impetus in detaching us from our culture – the culture of “kamai ia ka hok” or “live by the sweat of your brow.” This tempo of our politicians becoming outrageously corrupt is apparently something that cannot be retarded and therefore our descendants – the last line of hope – will be bred and brought up in corruption as well. What I’m trying to get at is that in accepting corruption, as is very evident now, it is not the present established generation that will bear the brunt of the shame and guilt and inability to earn honestly; it is our children and grandchildren who will and are being most impacted not because of any fault of theirs but because of us. Modern day politics itself is inherently corrupt because to remain in power one is required to steal or cheat or lie to remain in power.
As long as there are those that are bold enough to point out the corruption that is going on around them, there is still hope, but that is gradually getting silenced, because the taste of easy money alters one’s temperament against easy money. And if that were not enough there unquestionably exists a peculiar irritation at the rancour against those that seek to expose corruption, and this is only aggravating the situation further. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, or the CAAG, is not merely the most eloquent condemner of the exponents of corruption, but is the eyes and ears of the people, and for those of us who have eyes and ears for this, it appears the CAAG has now been made devoid of tooth and claw because nothing is being done in spite of the numerous cases of corruption that are being reported regularly by the CAAG. It can be argued that the outcome of a corrupt government is directly linked to the people’s willingness to not act against the corruption perpetuated by the Government, and this mendaciousness is being promoted in front of our eyes. “When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail.”
It is very clear now, after reading the total lack of accountability in the expenditure for hosting the CBF 2025 that behaviour considered unacceptable at personal level is normal if conducted by the Government. Let me impress once again what I have repeatedly impressed for the ears of the corrupt are now unwilling to hear such truths – our truths, that if we continue in this manner our children will suffer. We know well enough how offensive it sounds when anyone openly and bashfully and without metaphor generally counts politicians among the corrupt, but it will be accounted to us as well because we elect these representatives and so a crime that is precisely directed at politicians cannot be shrugged off by us. Therefore, we are equally responsible in bringing this doom upon our people because our inaction affects “the leaders of tomorrow” the most…or have we forgotten that slogan.
Let me once again say what I have already said a hundred times, for people’s ears nowadays are unwilling to hear such truths – by allowing corruption we are destroying our children and grandchildren. They have already discovered that there is nothing that they can do and nowhere they can go to find success in life. In short, they will have no control over their own life and when they discover that, which I think they already have, they turn to anything that can temporarily deliver them from the abject feeling of being lost, of having nowhere to go and with nothing to do. It is because of corruption that the youth and the very young children are getting hooked on drugs. I hope to be forgiven for pointing out that corruption in high places is the cause for the drug menace among our youth, however I would not overlook the general usefulness of doing so.
