Khliehriat MLA and former cabinet minister Kyrmen Shylla said something yesterday that raised a few eyebrows.
Speaking at a public meeting of his supporters, Shylla told the gathering that the central government, which is run by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted another five MLAs on Team Saffron from the state to facilitate the reopening of coal mining in Meghalaya.
When he says reopening, what Shylla means is a looser set of rules than are in place presently. So-called scientific mining, hailed by this government just a couple of years ago as a means of reopening the industry following the ban on rat-hole extraction in 2014, is not quite the panacea it was meant to be as the rules are proving too onerous on Meghalaya coal barons.
Shylla’s comments came as he took his case to his supporters – should he continue in the United Democratic Party or turn his back on the political machine that got him where he is today and defect to the BJP?
Naturally, he stated that he was considering the move for the benefit of the people. Every politician who switches horses midstream says this. They never think of themselves, only of their constituents. Eyewash.
In the case of Shylla and the seven or eight other UDP MLAs thinking of leaving, they have a list of demands that they have put forward to the BJP high command as the price for their defection – movement on the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), the Them Iew Mawlong issue and inclusion of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
The BJP has apparently agreed to move on all of these. But is what they are offering more of a carrot (i.e. join us and we will give Meghalaya all these goodies) or a stick (i.e. join us or Meghalaya will never get them)? In politics it’s probably both.
But it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Can a responsible central government deny a state’s demands just because the people never voted for the BJP? That smacks of extortion and it is a slippery slope on the way to utter ruin.
No matter the windfall, joining the BJP in Christian-majority Meghalaya is dicey. Both of the party’s two MLAs inhabit mixed community constituencies with large non-tribal Hindu populations. Not all of the UDP rebels are in a similar position. If the BJP fails to match its promises Shylla said that he and the rest are ready to leave immediately. But that is easier said than done.
