For the past nine hours, even through the sleep that did not elude me, I have intended to express unreservedly the degree to which I feel grateful to Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma the Chief Minister of Assam, Rituraj Mishra Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party and to Mariahom Kharkrang, the BJP candidate from 17 North Shillong Constituency; because indeed the best and loftiest moments of the past few months were experienced at the Conclave yesterday (19th February, 2023) at the Courtyard by Marriott in the speeches I heard from them, and I know of only one other time when I heard such rallying speeches and that was almost fifty years back when Dr. Radhon Singh Lyngdoh, and other politicians, whom I regard with a sustained reverence addressed an election gathering.
I am happy to confess this to the three names mentioned above on this festive day of Shivratri and I do this not without a feeling of pride, for if it is the lot of the privileged to be for a short spell of time in possession of something worthy only for the few, a hope that there is a better tomorrow, I was among the few. Certainly the few hundreds who were at the Conclave may consider themselves especially fortunate and privileged because it was granted to them to understand that what we in Meghalaya were going through was not the normal but the abnormal while the masses are still wondering what to make out of the speeches and talks they hear on corruption, dynastic politics, and the plunder that they have come to believe is the right of the elected few.
The three speakers shared a common belief and that was that if a community or a State is to progress the most important target that was to be aimed at was the development of the human character, and human character is impacted by what it sees going on around it and so development of the infrastructure of the State inevitably improves the character of the people and though development of the human character may take time the fact remains that the development of the infrastructure should start manifesting itself within a year, i.e. within a year of the establishment of a government that means business. It happened in Assam, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal and there is no reason why it should not happen in Meghalaya as well – hence the elections on the 27th February are of a vital concern.
You will understand that the beauty of the speeches I heard made me feel like I was especially fortunate because it was granted to me to see the light and to warm myself to the thought that while others were still disgusted with the way the elections are going on in Meghalaya and the hopelessness of it all, I saw and heard what the results could be if we made a proper choice in electing a new government. It is also a fact that to enjoy listening to the speeches of others does not come easily to me as I’ve been terribly disappointed whenever I have ventured to do so, for the simple reason that I end up finding myself contending between omnipotent prejudices and the inclinations that are opposed to civility and sensibility.
I have ventured to count myself among the privileged, after realizing how incapable many of the candidates in the hustings, with which I am particularly concerned, have shown themselves when it comes to grasping the truth behind why we as a State have fallen so terribly low in comparison with the rest of the states in the country, and shamefully I must admit, with the other states in North East India as well: in brief to be made aware of how it feels to be at the rock bottom of the developed world around us which we poor Khasis, Jaintias and Garos have simply accepted through all kinds of political gimmicks and mischief of the people we elected to power in the past. My thanks are to the three gentlemen whose names I have mentioned above if I still hold fast to a belief and a hope inspite of the seriousness and the deepened view of this enigmatic and questionable political strife that we’ve been going through.
How many purely political problems were gradually clarified to me by contemplating on the simple procedures adopted in Assam and in other parts of India and the North East to raise the standard of living of the people, and the human character along with it! There was a solitary commitment that I could discern in all the three remarkable speakers who differed unbelievably from the people I’ve been hearing on social media and in meetings because what they stressed upon while bringing out their cases in the process of the evening was the love for the land and its people, and this I would rather tell those that have ears to hear on some pleasant evening in person, just as I would also wish not to have had to write all that I have just written.
What a disgusting feeling I got when I was informed that having been allotted the prestige of hosting the National Games and the funds for conducting the same we were unable to host the games and surrendered it to Gujarat instead, and then as if to cheer me up, I got the pleasant feeling of one who has come to know and who is now able to decide on how to cast his vote and no longer remain in that confused state that many of his compatriots find themselves in – believing that no matter who comes to power they will still be in the same rot. Now at last, that estrangement of whom to vote for has vanished because they spoke the language I understood and shared the same feelings with me.
To realise that we are agreed on these issues was for me an invaluable proof that we shared a common concern, for it is not an easy matter, and it demands a robust, manly spirit not to become confused in the terrible hullabaloo going on around us these days, because sometimes we can find some very fine and very intelligent people in the enemy party. Someone must raise us theoretically above this conflict and that is precisely what the three speakers did on the 19th February in their speeches and in their simplicity of presentation.
I have come across some excellent people among the candidates but most of them possess an indolent view of the way things are moving in Meghalaya and especially in the way we should elect our representatives, as if an independent effort, a serious and thorough study, for the sake of understanding such an important matter were not necessary at all, and so I felt I was extremely lucky to be invited to such an event and would have never forgiven myself if I failed to express myself through this letter to immediately inform my friends and readers that there is a meaningful party we can vote to power, the party that Kharkrang represents – the BJP.
This decisiveness of a few can come as a great joy to anyone doubting the future because it is an infinite enrichment of one’s life if one is assisted in making the very difficult choice of a Party and a person to lead the constituency and the State in the years ahead. After hearing them I believe we’re no longer at the beginning of the end but at the beginning of a new era in our beloved Meghalaya.
(The writer is a spokesperson of BJP Meghalaya)
