A new citizens’ platform, dubbed KAM Meghalaya, has been floated after a gathering to debate the issues that plague the state was held last week.
Nowhere in their release today was the word ‘party’ mentioned, though it is an open secret that the two people named in their booklet – Kyrsoibor Pyrtuh and Angela Rangad – are planning to contest the state election next year.
On Friday, around 90 members of civil society, unions and individuals gathered in Shillong to discuss important issues facing Meghalaya and to look for ways to take citizens’ concerns into the electoral arena.
“We must not be forced to choose a lesser evil. We cannot compromise on values of ethics, civility and honesty that we try to instill in our own children,” Rangad was quoted as saying.
KAM has been formed out of the experiences of people’s struggles, ranging from gender justice, environmental protest, anti-corruption and workers’ movements.
“With an aim to gather civil society’s voices to intervene in the upcoming state elections, as candidates and voters, KAM proposes the need to identify shared values that are committed to changes that are democratic, pro-people and inclusive,” the release said. “Unity and a commitment to a principled politics of integrity will be needed to challenge the arrangement of power in the state and tilt it toward the people.”
KAM has identified 15 themes it will be working towards – transparent governance and politics; defeating corruption and the criminalisation of politics; protecting land, environment and farmers; ensuring health; enabling quality education; democratic economy; decentralised, well-funded and accountable civil governance; supporting youth; corruption-free jobs; defending workers’ rights; gender equality and the rights of women and sexual minorities; peace, security and safety for all citizens; opposition to religious fundamentalism; federal and plural politics; and encouraging dissent and debate.
True change for Meghalaya will not come through leaders but through the “coming together of people who want to discover the values of democratic citizenship in their everyday life,” Rangad added.
