Can publicity blitz help Conrad Sangma & Co. survive?
NPP’s PR stunts won’t be enough to keep MDA afloat; now’s time for some solid action, writes Philip Marwein
The state’s performance over five decades is, of course, a reflection of the earlier governments and their performance, and a palimpsest of past policies that have shaped the present. So, in assessing the MDA, it will be unjustified to prepare a scorecard based solely on the state’s performance over the years. Again, it will be nothing short of parti pris if the MDA’s performance is not linked to the various maladies the state witnessed in the last seven years.
The MDA, led by the National People’s Party, must be congratulated for bringing in stability — a necessary condition in the state’s politics for taking any developmental measures — in less than a decade of its being in the government. In this aspect, it overshadowed its predecessors of the last 25 years, who made Meghalaya infamous for political volatility.
The ruling NPP has gained numerical strength from just 26 legislators in 2023 to 33 MLAs today through mergers and by-elections, in the house of 60. The party was able to garner seven more MLAs at the cost of the Opposition (five of Congress and two of PDF) and got the support of two Independents. The five Trinamool Congress MLAs and four from VPP remained committed to their respective parties, at least for now.
The Meghalaya Assembly elections are slated for 2028, and it will be difficult to predict how many legislators on the Opposition bench will withstand the political tug-of-war.
However, judging by the trend, one can confidently guess that the existing leadership will have a safe passage in the next power play. And this is despite the disappointments that the MDA meted out to its electors.
Buried under mining mishaps
The burden of illegal mining on the state has been insurmountable, and it has equally weighed on the MDA government. With reported connections of the former NPP minister and the CM’s big brother, James Sangma, with coal mining and miners, the repeated allegations of rampant illegal coal extraction and transportation despite a ban by the National Green Tribunal have dented the NPP’s credibility to a great extent. While the party’s media propaganda and communications skills have tried to offset the impact, the efforts so far have not been too convincing.
The first year of the MDA government was shaken by the near-fatal attack on two activists, who were independently investigating illegal mining in East Jaintia Hills, and the Ksan mine mishap, in which 13 workers were buried alive inside a rat-hole mine. This followed another accident in 2021, this time too in East Jaintia Hills.
As the NPP and its allies recovered from the double whammy in just three years, the government changed its coal mining narrative. This time, it was all about safeguarding livelihood through scientific mining. Conrad Sangma came back to power in 2023 as the prodigal son.
The chief minister and his MDA government have taken the credit for starting scientific mining in the state after over a decade. But that feels more like a ruse than a real achievement. While the opening of the scientific mines was done in the presence of a chosen media house, nothing much is known about how the mines are running and whether they are complying with all the environmental guidelines.
Add to this was the allegation by the Hynñiewtrep Integrated Territorial Organisation (HITO) that said the state government flouted the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, by bringing in the incidental limestone approval. HITO said that only through this approval, the government enabled seven cement plants to escape payment of approximately Rs 400 crore to the government coffers.
Should we read between the lines?
Over the decades, the education system in Meghalaya has suffered the brunt of poor policies, corruption and a lack of political will to reinvigorate the system that was once the best in the North East. It is in a shambles despite several measures taken under the MDA government. The ground reality does not match the efforts, and the numerous programmes with fancy names barely show improvement. Is there anything in the policies crafted by the new government that requires reading between the lines? If so, then that too is illegible to understand the intention of the disposition.
A severe lack of infrastructure in rural and remote areas, a poor foundation of the system, a lack of accountability and transparency, rampant subcontracting of the teaching job and even too many officiating of the teaching job, proxy school teachers, defective and unreasonable fee structures for students and pay structures for teachers, and gross irregularities have marred the quality of education, and it reflects on the state board examination results.
It must be pointed out that education is highly politicised and commercialised, which has done a lot of damage to the sector. Are politicians and bureaucrats experts in laying down education policies? Education must be the responsibility of real educators, who must be the main stakeholders in creating a blueprint for the education system. Besides, there should be short, mid and long-term plans for the system to gradually find vigour and become dynamic. Policies that cater to only long-term goals or measures serving short-term requirements will not yield results in solidarity.
Ailing for a long time
Another sector that has become a bone of contention is healthcare. There are two categories of healthcare services — public and private. The private sector, which is free from red tape and political interference, can deliver much better and faster services. But in the government healthcare system, the chain of command has several layers, which jeopardise services. Hence, it takes a lot of time to deliver healthcare to the needy. The hundreds of poor patients, especially those from the rural pockets of the state, who are depending on public healthcare, have much to be disappointed.
These woes do not end in healthcare and are widespread in other sectors, too. One stark failure is the Smart City project. Other than periodic deception behind the façade of beautification, we have barely witnessed any concrete Smart City Project come to life. This is true even in Shillong, the most prominent town in the state and the nerve-centre of tourism and economy.
Lastly, the primary sector has been neglected for years now. The farmers are left to suffer. Despite the tall claims by the leader of the present dispensation, little has been done for the farming community. The sector demands drastic steps to alleviate farmers’ plight and make agriculture a blossoming sector.
The NPP’s social media engagement and fine publicity campaigns aside, the MDA government’s slips can barely be missed. It would be a fallacy on the part of the NPP leadership to think that only publicity stunts can help it keep the citadel of power in the state. Though two years is too short a time to right the wrongs, the current government must still try to correct its course instead of choking in its own hubris.
(Philip Marwein is a veteran roving journalist who has reported on Meghalaya’s politics and the socio-economic churnings in the state’s remote and rural pockets. Views are personal)
