Voters at a polling booth in Dimapur (Express Photo by Kallol Dey)
As Meghalaya and Nagaland went to the polls, it may be time to look at the issues that were different this time as compared to 2013 as well as the aftermath of the voting. Judging by the long queues in Shillong today – where I voted – voter interest remained high, despite reports of EVMs playing up in some parts of the state and rural voters unable to vote because they need to finish their work in the fields.
Still, it isn’t everyday that the BJP makes a serious bid for power in the North-East, although it has certainly been emboldened by its victories in Assam and Manipur. Undoubtedly, this time the Churches have played a prominent role in the election. The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC), the apex body of all Baptist churches in Nagaland, even asked voters not to vote for the BJP and its ally, the Neiphiu Rio-led National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), reminding people about the time carolers were attacked on Christmas and priests taken to the police station for questioning in Madhya Pradesh.
The BJP did field Tourism Minister KJ Alphons, its only visible Christian face, but some remarks by the former civil servant didn’t seem to have gone down too well. When Alphons declared in Meghalaya that the Tourism ministry would spend Rs 70 crore on churches to give them a facelift, Church leaders didn’t take too kindly to his offer. At least two churches publicly declined the offer.
The campaigns by both political parties, the Congress and the BJP, seemed particularly vitriolic. Voters wondered what the Congress had done for Meghalaya, despite being in power for eight years, but then asked themselves what the alternatives were. ‘There is No Alternative’ (TINA) factor is alive and well in both states. The BJP may not do well on its own – some say it is unlikely to cross the single digit mark. But the National People’s Party (launched by former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma in 2013 and now led by his son and MP from Tura in the Garo Hills, Conrad Sangma) is expected to fare much better. The BJP is certainly betting on its behind-the-scenes links with the NPP.
A polling booth outside Chakhesang Baptist Church in Dimapur. (Express photo by Kallol Dey)
The key issues confronting both Nagaland and Meghalaya are many, but the greatest problem is that governments don’t seem to care. The school and college drop-out rate is on the rise, but successive governments have failed to come up with strategies to mainstream disaffected youth, many of whom are on substance abuse. Children beg on the streets of Shillong, despite the fact that Meghalaya is a matrilineal society, where women are supposed to wield economic power. But when divorce is rife and children become the responsibility of mothers, how do women cope?
Read | Assembly elections 2018 LIVE UPDATES: Nagaland registers 67% voter turnout till 3 pm
The Socio-Economic-Caste Survey 2011 revealed that 76% of rural Meghalaya is landless. For a tribal state which boasts of community ownership of land, this figure is frighteningly high. It also means that traditional institutions have failed to safeguard the rights of their people, while the modern state has reneged on its responsibility to ensure equity and fair play.
But the question is worth asking : Why has the rural population of Meghalaya become landless? Is it because of the land-guzzling coal-mining activity? Have cement companies taken over large tracts of tribal land despite the existence of a Land Transfer Regulation Act (1978)? The answer to both questions is, yes.
There is a lot of benami ownership of land in Meghalaya. Land in the name of an affluent tribal elite is being used by non-tribal businessmen who see the state’s huge limestone resources as natural capital. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned coal mining in April 2014 after a student’s body from Assam filed a PIL stating that rivers flowing downstream from the Jaintia Hills coal belt are toxic and no longer sustain riverine life. The NGT asked the state government to come up with a Mining Policy but that is still hanging in the balance.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters at a polling booth in Nagaland (Express photo by Kallol Dey)
The Congress led- Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) government, which served two terms, laid the foundation stones for two medical colleges five years ago. But till date not even a single brick has come up. Meghalaya’s state assembly building was gutted in 2001. Several architects have submitted several designs, but to no avail. Shillong doesn’t even have an airport. Even the rail link came only three years ago and that only to Garo Hills.
The Fifth Annual Employment-Unemployment Survey (2015–16) from the Ministry of Labour and Employment shows Meghalaya’s unemployment rate to be 48/1,000. There is no data for Nagaland. Imagine 48 young people out of every thousand not having any work to do. How do they spend their waking hours? Is this also the reason why militancy in both states is an alternative, lucrative employment avenue?
People standing in queue at a polling booth in Kohima, Nagaland (Express photo by Dipankar Ghose)
Sadly all these issues have been given short shrift by all political parties. Early in the campaign the BJP came up with a document called “Chargesheet” against the Congress-led government in Meghalaya. It listed out all its wrongdoings, including the White Ink Scam, notable for the alleged large-scale nepotism in the appointment of primary school teachers by then Education Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh. The BJP now promises to turn the economy of the state around if elected. It says it will revoke the ban on coal mining if it comes to power in Meghalaya. The Congress, meanwhile, came up with its manifesto only three days ago.
All eyes are now on March 3, when results will out. What do the stars portend for Meghalaya and Nagaland, a coalition or a government with an absolute majority? Luckily, we don’t have long to wait.
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