We have only the English to thank for the attempt to attach and demand a certain degree of morality in public life by insisting on the swearing of an oath prior to assuming charge of an office…especially the swearing in of the ministers – and in this article I will try to make incisions into the riddle that has become of the oath taking ceremony vis-a-vis the functioning of the ministers in Meghalaya. From a reading of the language in the “oath” one is drawn to the question, “what is it that we really want from those that must take an oath of office?” Is it a demand that they set the example of what morality in public life means, or is it a blind mechanical ritual or an initiation into forgetfulness?
One is led to ask these questions because of the behaviour that our elected representatives have displayed consequent to the oath taking. The intellectuals, namely those more conversant with political science, would immediately say that it’s a public commitment necessary prior to holding public office. They certainly know that in swearing an allegiance or an oath the authority taking the oath has the right to enforce and punish and discipline any person who is sworn in and acts contrary to the oath so taken, but the intellectuals refuse to go there. Why do these intellectuals always drive us in this direction – an ambiguous dead end that they put against our questioning?
There appears to be a secret self deceiving, malicious belittling of our instincts that states “Thou shalt not steal” that their intellectualism is playing with. Or is it that the intellectuals already hold a pessimistic suspicion of mistrust against elected individuals? Or do they already understand that there’s always that little itching and the need for spice in defying “the straight and narrow path.” Maybe it is a little of all that has been stated above but I would like to believe that it is an exercise in forgetfulness…forget that you ever made such a promise, such an oath, forget that you held a holy book while assuring that you would behave with integrity, may be even forget the unreasonable and grotesque lessons which are painfully paradoxical on the ethics of your religion.
Personally I can’t believe that what they do is a deliberate challenge to the ethics they have been raised with and I can only hope, because I do not know, that like every living creature on earth they know how to keep their hearts as well as their sins within bounds and have trained themselves to sacrifice the even greater temptations they are confronted with as leaders. For such temptations do exist…Maybe we still hold them in respect because we ourselves have forgotten the hardships and the trials we endured during the course of the past five years, or have we?
Have we forgotten, for now, the terrible traffic jams we had to face from February to November of every year now that the schools have closed down in Shillong, have we forgotten the sudden break down in law and order that brought to life the slogan, “Ha Ri Lajong Leh Katba Mon” (In your own land wield a free hand), have we forgotten how they deprived us of our road construction business so that only they and their people could carry out any business at all, have we forgotten how they made everlasting fortunes for themselves while they diverted our teaching salaries elsewhere, and when we protested how they tear gassed us, have we forgotten how they connived to maneuver some of the lime stone miners to deprive other miners and how they conspired with the officials who issued and cancelled challans at their behest without the slightest care in the world for the hundreds of limestone exporters whose lives were at stake and who even now are still bravely facing their ‘zero income’ dilemma for months on end with the hope that the new legislators will be more considerate to their plight and amend the rules to their benefit.
Have we forgotten how our civil services officers were sidelined to idle desk and roadside duties while consultants stepped into their shoes, have we forgotten how our befitting police personnel were sidelined, were demoralised and lawlessness allowed to reign in Shillong, ah my friend we have had our share of distress and there’s so much more, because you have left a legacy, a legacy of thousands of crores that only the BJP can deliver us from. Surely there’s been a violation of the sworn oath among these imputations. Our smiles and our appearance in the past five years and our bearing required a determination of the highest order to maintain a friendly demeanour, while all the time removing any trace of the false pathos or any pose of the prophet of revenge in us, because despite what we were going through, our manner was, on the contrary innocuous and natural and we often engaged in quite banal conversations about climate, accommodation and such things to distract us from the gloom around us.
Many were the times when I heard people say without the slightest affectation and quite unconsciously that they believed they had a mission and that now, as far as it was going to be possible they were determined to work out what that inner calling was – “rid the State of the current set of legislators.” Anyone would probably be just as amazed as I by this determination of the people. There was nothing put on about the way they made this matter of fact statement, some of them were even more determined saying they would write down some musical compositions to go with their thoughts, because they thought that they could say some things in music better than in the spoken word.
And perhaps I have heard some such compositions on “Station 103 Red FM Keep Rocking” while driving my car. Many were the hours I spent in conversation with such people. From what I could gather the people in Shillong may have shown many contradictions but they were profoundly sincere and had an immense strength of will and endeavour in the need to replace many of their legislators. They say, “They forgot their oaths, now we will forget their pleas” and so now we will vote for the only other party that can deliver…Vote for the BJP. And the chance has come to fulfill their dream and the time is drawing ever nearer, and there is this happiness that has enveloped them.
(The writer is the State Spokesperson of Meghalaya BJP)
