As the election fervour of the State gathers speed the ship of ‘election promises’ gets bulkier by the day but goes careering in the wind creating a medley of emotions dominated both by skepticism and a good measure of caustic humour. Driving down to Guwahati the other day I enjoyed the round of ‘election jokes’ amongst the taxi driver’s community at a pit stop as my driver planned to rush back to Shillong to catch the five-yearly ‘bam khana’ ‘generously’ hosted by his MLA. Election time always rekindles in me an unachievable desire to be a cartoonist’! The landscape is so replete with rich and original material. The aspirants, the supporters, the naysayers and the soothsayers, the observers/experts-self appointed or otherwise but above all the voters all have a spin to the tale!
A veteran politician from the Centre recently told me that the last few days of electioneering is what matters because it is what is retained as the electorate goes to the voting booth. So some aspirants are showing up only now with their deliverables along with sops but there are others with a different approach like the three independent candidates from the KAM Meghalaya platform whose objective has been to make ‘citizens’ and citizens rights and voices central to the electoral process. They have gone house to house for the last eight months listening to what people have to say – concerns, grievances, aspirations, fears, challenges and doable ideas thought through together. Their manifestos therefore are the collective voices of their proposed constituencies with clearly articulated time bound commitments.
Pushing for principled politics they are making a shift in how elections can be fought and the solidly and unequivocally embody that shift. They firmly believe that the political narrative has to change and the three with strong, long and proven track record of working on issues of social justice and equality have entered the fray with a refreshingly new narrative. A narrative purged of toxic masculinities, muscle flexes, patronage and misogyny, a narrative of peaceful coexistence, respect and accountability and a political commitment to rights and justice. As one of the candidates Angela Rangad puts it ‘we are fighting for the soul of Shillong putting citizens and the dignity of citizens at the centre of our campaign’.
But do people, especially the comfortable middle class, understand the deep significance of that shift? Do voters have enough self esteem and a sense of self worth to want to be treated with respect and not just instrumentalised during election times or will they simply go back to their four walled chit chats or WhatsApp laments of what is ailing their State each time there is an issue of glaring misgovernance. Will yet others raise their hands in exasperation and declare that people just deserve the representatives they choose?
There are in fact plenty of concerns doing the rounds at this point of time, the predominant ones being ‘development’ and ‘corruption’. It is important however to further unpack these two issues for both can mean different things to different categories of people and in itself can have much deeper implications. Conforming to the increased economic and social disparities in the last nine years in the country as a whole in Meghalaya too for many development is still about the issue of decent jobs and wages, regular supply of clean and drinkable water, of basic sanitation, of street lights, of affordable access to nutrition etc. For others it is about glitter and glamour and a competition about creating a ‘mall’ culture that outsmarts our neighbouring city of Guwahati!
The second round of chit chats is about corruption. For me corruption is certainly a necessary reason that must be called out and accountability demanded but it cannot be a sufficient reason to vote or not vote for a candidate or party. There are enough examples from across the world starting with Nazi Germany, Brazil to India itself which shows that going only with the morally high sounding corruption rhetoric can also be a very convenient and surreptitious cover for pushing through or endorsing a fascist agenda. Additionally corruption is not only about monetary payoffs and ‘protection fee’ but also about insidious and systematic undermining of democracy – the destruction of the basic institutional structures that sustain democracy, of a subtle process of bringing in a gag rule in bits and pieces and subtly manipulating peoples mind to self censor and desist from calling truth to power.
A lack of transparency should be a critical pointer of the possibility of corruption. The nondisclosure of names of contributors towards the electoral bonds for instance, which funds elections in India today should therefore be top on our list of questions. Interestingly despite the much hype on corruption it is the KAM Meghalaya contestants who keep highlighting the various dimensions of ‘corruption’ other than the financial including the non implementation of public services and the stranglehold of the power of the licensing domain. Rooted in their years of successful work on the RTI and the fight for a Lokayukta Act they have once again practically drafted a Grievance Redress, Transparency and Accountability Act that will be open to wide pre legislative public consultations and feedback.
To my mind then apart from the specific issues of accountability of constituencies here I think it is important to simultaneously situate our local concerns within the broader political climate and ethos of the country. While not aimed at elections the spectacular success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra tells us an important tale or an array of myriad tales which together gives us a picture and aspiration of the country starkly different from the well oiled Godi media stories. In the face of such reality it was interesting to note how the cacophony of arrogant, servile and derisive voices of the critics of the Bharat Jodo Yatra rooted essentially in deep insecurities trailed off into an inaudible whimper by the time the Yatra concluded in Srinagar!
The BJY has indeed debunked a carefully choreographed, heavily funded project at creating a particular negative narrative about Rahul Gandhi himself and shut the monotonous rhetoric of ‘there is no alternative’ – the robotic TINA refrain once and for all. Similarly the knee jerk reactions and ham handed way of addressing the BBC documentaries issue and the subsequent IT raids on BBC are indeed deeply embarrassing and clearly point to the lack of mature and secure statesmanship. And finally the handling or non handling of the infamous Adani story which has deep implications for the entire country is a complete account in itself of what the country is all about today and where it is headed. Defenders and benefactors of the Adani riches may cry themselves hoarse about conspiracy stories galore whilst waving the Tricolour in Bollywood style histrionics but the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle are out. It just needs minimum intelligence and the will to put it together and figure it out.
The moot question therefore is what is the basis on which we are going to repose our trust on a candidate? What determines our choice? Are we going to be heard, led and go with the flavour, glamour, might or opportunism of the dominant narrative of the times or are we going to vote as thinking, reflective ‘citizens’ seeing the emerging writing on the wall and with a strong conviction that our one vote is invaluable in a functioning democracy and should and can be anchored on certain non negotiable principles. Are we going with the victim card of the aggrieved minority here and seek transactional protection from a muscle flexing ‘self proclaimed heavyweight’ while supporting or having no qualms about the atrocities against other minorities in the places of our ancestral origins?
Our country today is a transitionally contradictory country. A ‘strong’ country we are constantly reminded – even the G20 leadership which has come to us as a matter of rotational routine is hyped up as evidence! A mighty nation but ever so often displaying deep insecurities verging on paranoia that justifies taking refuge behind ‘bull’dozers or so called security laws that facilitate throwing questioners labeled anti nationals behind bars at the whiff of a murmur! So much so that even our representatives in parliament in the recent parliamentary sessions were not ‘allowed’ to raise critical questions about the worrisome Adani bombshell and had their questioning expunged from the proceedings! Is this democracy or a total mockery of democracy?
Is questioning or asking the Prime Minister and the ruling party for an answer now being equated to being ‘anti national’? Is there a special kind of ‘blasphemy’ norm and thinking creeping into the country? Are we then going to cast our votes as free citizens who can question and demand accountability from our representatives knowing that it is our right enshrined in the Indian constitution and that these rights will always be guaranteed? Or are we going to give our precious vote to a ‘ruler’ of a party with ‘Thou shall not question’ dictates ringing in our ears. Are we going to vote with ‘our heads held high and our minds free from fear’, seeking and driven by the truth with our reason unshackled by the dreary desert sand of dead habit? The choice and decision ultimately is with each one of us.
