“The only constant in this world is change,” Mukul Sangma quoted philosophically after taking over as the youngest Chief Minister of Meghalaya on April 20 this year - incidentally his 45th birthday.
Now as we leaf through 2010 and try reading unwritten chapters of 2011, the quote does sound ambiguous (in several instances) in Meghalaya’s context.
Consider these: Sangma took over toppling political veteran DD Lapang on April 18 - after infighting within the Congress party. This is the classic cloak-and-dagger politics that Meghalaya’s polity has witnessed for years.
Before Sangma took over as Chief Minster the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) was a constant irritant, opening indiscriminate firing in the disputed Indo-Bangla border along Meghalaya from February.
There has been little change in the skirmishes. The last being BDR’s disruption of the joint Indo-Bangla border survey from December 13.
In March, Meghalayans received a shocker upon realisation that some state legislators literally took them for a ride on a European junket on the tax-payers’ money, as unearthed by the CAG report. The legislators thereafter produced fake bills to claim travel expenses. Some things never change, do they?
The budget was presented by Sangma as the then finance minister with a (usual) deficit of Rs. 376 crore.
In March again, Meghalaya police’s learnt that one of its Deputy Superintendent of Police, Champion R Mark, actually deserted the force and floated a militant organisation - Garo National Liberation Army.
The GNLA has been a constant headache for the security forces ever since with its extortions, intimidations and kidnappings.
The banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) calling bandhs during Independence and Republic Day celebrations has remained unchanged.
Post April 20, if Sangma thought it would be fair winds, his political barometer failed to warn him about the impending storm. On May 14, four villagers were killed in an Assam police firing in Langpih – a disputed territory between Meghalaya and Assam. The territorial dispute is grafted as a nagging thorn in the relationship between Meghalaya and Assam for decades now.
And to speak of agitations, deficit school teachers in September went on strike demanding release of pending arrears. A month later, students from the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) demanded a tribal VC for the University instead of Prof. AN Rai.
For a change, John R Marak, a sub-inspector was sent to ten years imprisonment for rape in February. The special CBI court also sent a former central excise commissioner, LR Mitran, to jail for four years for accepting bribe in October. Traditional bodies were ordered by the High Court to furnish information under the Right to Information Act, in August.
Three village women - Fatima Mynsong, Aquiline Songchan and Malinda Suting - busted a scam of the village headman and his henchmen in Jongsha village on the shoddy implementation of NREGA scheme by filing Right to Information. The Shillong Chamber Choir won the finals of reality TV show,India’s Got Talent Khoj 2 in October.
Whatever joy or tribulation 2010 has provided, everybody would hope that things would change for the better in 2011.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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