Congress rallies at Mawlai and Jaiaw Pdeng, KHNAM meeting at Students' Field at Jaiaw and NCP rally at Dhankheti and meetings and processions by Independents and other candidates marked the last day of the campaigning which ended on a peaceful note at 4 pm.

So far, there has been no report of violation of the model code of conduct by any of the candidates for the 60 constituencies of the State.

Saturday evening saw a calm atmosphere prevail in the city after two weeks of heated political rallies, campaigns, house-to-house campaigning and car rallies by various candidates and political parties.

Meanwhile, poll officials, including presiding and polling officers, left for their respective destinations on Saturday evening to perform their duty on March 3.

Most of them have carried along polling materials like electronic voting machines (EVMs) and election manuals as per directions of the State Election Department.

A slew of high profile politicians, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, BJP president Rajnath Singh and LJP chief and union minister Ram Vilas Paswan descended on this hill state to assure all round development and stability.

Among the parties are ruling Congress which has fielded candidates in all the seats. The UDP is in the fray in 52, NCP in 50 and BJP in 21. Besides, there are 73 Independents.

The Election Commission has postponed the polling in Baghmara constituency after sitting Congress candidate S Sangma died of cancer.

The election in the constituency has been re-scheduled for March 22.

A total of 18,55,686 electorate, including 6,25,534 women, will choose from 331 candidates.

Arrangements had been made for postal ballots for service holders and personnel on election duty. Moreover special arrangements were made for the physically challenged voters.

The total number of polling stations is 1,600--1,543 main and 57 auxiliary. The polling station having the least number of voters is Boirakupi under Dalu constituency with 70 voters.

The state election department has declared 635 polling stations as 'hyper sensitive' and 194 'sensitive'.

Chief Election Officer P K Naik told reporters that adequate security arrangements had been made. He said 40 companies of Central Paramilitary Force (CPF) had been deployed across Meghalaya to ensure smooth polling.

The Border Security Force had also tightened vigil across the state's international border with Bangladesh.

Interestingly, Election officials have sought the help of forest and wildlife officials to ward off wild elephants who might disrupt the polls.

Meghalaya has an estimated 3,000 wild elephants and its East and West Garo Hills, West Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi districts are considered corridors for the animals.

The State Election department has marked several polling booths in elephant-infested areas as 'sensitive'.

In Garo Hills, polling parties began leaving for their destinations from Tura, Williamnagar and Baghmara on Saturday morning.

The final poll exercise for the elections took place at the Deputy Commissioner's Office in Tura where EVMs were handed over to the polling officers and zonal officers.

As many as eight new companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed in West Garo Hills district alone which elects 15 MLAS to the State Assembly.

District police, MLP Battalion and CRPF have also been pressed into service to ensure smooth conduct of the elections.

(With inputs from (UNI)

SHILLONG: A day after former Finance Minister AH Scott Lyngdoh accused him of failure as Jaiaw legislator, Urban Affairs Minister and KHNAM president Paul Lyngdoh on Saturday saw an RTI applicant charge him with misuse of MLA schemes, while Lyngdoh Senior called for a high-level inquiry into the whole episode.

Meanwhile, Paul Lyngdoh has rejected as baseless Scott Lyngdoh's allegations that there was no accountability and transparency in implementation of the former's MLA schemes in Jaiaw constituency.

"The only aim of AH Scott Lyngdoh is to crush me and nothing else. His allegations are unacceptable," the KHNAM president said.

Mr Lyngdoh claimed that KHNAM with only two legislators did its best to safeguard the interests of the indigenous people on issues like work permit, Directorate of Information, MBoSE, introduction of Khasi and Garo languages as associate official languages, border fencing and uranium mining.

Mr Modi's comment has come in the wake of the survey carried out by an NGO called Meghalaya Election Watch (MEW) that says at least 27 crorepatis are in the fray for the March-3 State Assembly polls.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr Modi said it was surprising that most of the crorepatis were politicians belonging to Congress, adding this indicated large-scale corruption in the State.

"An independent agency should be assigned with the task of investigation the matter of assets of the politicians in the State," Mr Modi said.

According to the MEW survey, Congress leader Deborah C Marak tops the list of corepatis with assets worth Rs 112 crore.

Mr Modi said, "BJP is ready to support any coalition government minus Congress after the elections."

While saying people were fed up with the corrupt Congress-led Government, the BJP leader flayed Congress for following an appeasement policy towards the militants in the North-East.

It was ULFA which helped Congress come back to power in Assam, Mr Modi alleged.

He further appealed to the people of Meghalaya to vote BJP to power for development and clean governance in the State.

Talking to reporters after the MoU signing ceremony between TCS, Assam government and IIT-Guwahati for opening TCS Learning Centre here, Mr Ramesh said, ''Major investment is coming to Shillong in the IT sector and we will formally announce it within the next 15 days.''

The election code of conduct, with the State going to the polls on March 3, prevented the Minister from elaborating on the proposed investment.

Mr Ramesh said, ''The MoU has opened the way for other IT companies to follow suit and tap the huge human resource potential of the region.''

He said the connectivity bottlenecks have been addressed to a large extent and things were moving in the right direction for the region to attract IT companies.

The Assam government's positive attitude and the presence of an IIT here has helped in attracting TCS, he added. CEO and MD of TCS S Ramadorai, talking to reporters, said the TCS Learning Centre is an indication of the long-term commitment of the company to start operations in NE.

''We have taken time to access the sustainability factor and are here for long-term plans,'' he said.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, speaking after the signing of the MoU, assured of all cooperation from the government for other companies that wanted to follow suit. He also thanked the Tata group for being pioneers in setting up training centre in the region.

Other dignitaries present in the MoU signing ceremony included Assam IT Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sharma and director of IIT-Guwahati Prof. Gautam Bora.

The Learning Centre will conduct classes in the IIT-Guwahati campus and also use the facilities of the latter.

The TCS also signed a lease agreement with the state government for leasing 50 flats for a period of three years. (UNI)

"In a democratic country, election processes are considered the most important feature in strengthening democracy allowing free and fair participation of all sections of the people. Barring a particular group of citizens, who are often termed the "builders of the nation", from such processes tantamount to nothing less than strangulating democracy and sending a wrong message to the future generation," FAMTA said in a statement.

FAMTA said the action is propelled by an ulterior motive a few vested interests to target the opinion builders and undermine the rich democratic traditions of the State.

Addressing a public rally at Madanriting, Shillong on Friday, Mrs Pyngrope, the lone woman candidate from the constituency, who is pitted against political stalwarts like Bindo M Lanong (UDP), Tony Curtis Lyngdoh (Congress) and Jemino Mawthoh (NCP), hopes to initiate special effort towards protection of women against domestic violence and other crimes against the fairer sex and see that they are given their rights.

"If elected I would initiate effort to change the present system of education to become functional so that the youth would not have to depend on Government jobs after completing their studies, but would rather look for other options depending on their creativity," Mrs Pyngrope added.

To ensure smooth functioning of development activities in the constituency, Mrs Pyngrope promises to constitute the Malki-Nongthymmai Development Committee to supervise the activities and ensure accountability and transparency in implementations of schemes.

She hopes to bring change for the betterment of the underprivileged class in the constituency in the form of sustainable development.

She also promises to address water scarcity problem as majority of the localities in the constituency have been facing water scarcity.

Addressing the rally at Smit, MDP President, Martle N Mukhim urged the people to vote with 'courage and wisdom' on March 3 to ensure that the "right" candidate is elected while cautioning against "unscrupulous candidates with ulterior motives".

Mr Wankhar, who also spoke on the occasion, said it is high time that people of Nongkrem elect a candidate who hails from their constituency who is fully aware about the people and could look after the welfare and betterment of the constituency while hitting out at the sitting legislator Lambor Malngiang for backwardness of the constituency.

Members of the E Company of the 114 CRPF Bn, based in Rongjeng constituency, were preparing to be dispatched for election duty in Williamnagar when a sten carbine belonging to one of the personal let off live bullets inside a truck killing a Sub Inspector, Bairon Singh Rawat, and Constable Surjeet Singh. Both were declared dead on arrival at the Williamnagar hospital.

In a statement issued here, the forum questioned the credibility of the beneficiaries who claimed to have benefited from the MLA scheme while stating that specific identity or location of the beneficiaries were not property revealed, which gives the benefit of doubt that they were ghost beneficiaries.

It also refuted the MLA's remark that the allegation of MLA fund misappropriation under Mawlai constituency has any ulterior motive.

Mr Dhar also said that there should be only one booth of a candidate for a polling station beyond a distance of 200 meters from the polling station and that only one table and two chairs with a piece of tarpaulin or umbrella in case of weather condition was allowed to be put up.

The DC also informed that booths should be used for the sole purpose of issuing unofficial identity slips to electors without printing the name of a candidate or symbol while he also said that only one banner displaying the name of the candidate, his party and election symbol would be allowed, the size of which should not be more than three feet length and four and half feet breadth.

The procession considered as the biggest to be held by any candidate in the run up to the March 3 Assembly election was led by Mr Cajee. The Congress supporters waving party flags and wearing party caps and shawls took out the procession from Mawlai Stadium, Phudmuri to Mawlai Nonglum and Mawlai Nongpdeng before it ended at the residence of Mr Cajee.

On the way, UDP vice president and former legislator Standlington David Khongwir came out of his residence and shook hand with Mr Cajee. Earlier, during the brief rally at the stadium, Mr Cajee had openly announced that Mr Khongwir was supporting him in the election.

When individual voters particularly in the rural areas succumb to money power, we may excuse their acts of commission because they are possibly misguided and because they vote with their stomachs. With poverty becoming a real issue in Meghalaya you cannot really blame the voters for asking money from every candidate. After all it is the political system that has kept them at subsistence. It is the political system continues to keep them poor, illiterate and uninformed about their political rights.

As an institution that believes in the spiritual guidance of its adherents, the church is expected to raise the political consciousness of people and help build up advocacy groups so that demands for development are raised by people themselves. Spiritual consciousness alone, without adequately empowering people to build their mental and physical strengths is a useless preoccupation. A hungry man has little use for sermons. He needs food and the means to earn his daily bread.

Over the years, some churches have played a predominant role in providing quality education and health care. But they have shied away from hard issues that affect the quality of life of people mainly because they are wary about criticism. Like hamlet and his eternal dilemma of ‘to be or not to be’ churches seem to be sitting on the fence when it comes to substantive issues that relate directly to governance. Interestingly, however, there are church leaders who take active part in politics and who even contest elections. There does not seem to be any hard and fast rule to debar church leaders from entering the fray. So one does not see why the church is so abashed of being involved in hard core politics.

With the coming of the MLA scheme things have become even more bizarre. Every MLA thinks it is his duty to provide a vehicle to as many churches in his constituency. These vehicles are sometime used as ambulances, which means that the number of sick people in our state is increasing by leaps and bounds. Logically you would expect the MLA to strengthen the health care facilities so that his constituents become healthy people. Here it is the other way around. This has become a state of ambulances. So much so many of them are used for purposes other than ferrying the sick.

Whoever invented the MLA scheme never imagined it would be used with such ingenuity. It is a system that perfects the art of political patronage. An individual who gets CGI sheets from an MLA under the Indira Awaz Yojna scheme is expected to remain forvere grateful to him/her. A scheme meant for the poorest of the poor becomes instead a ploy for extracting political loyalty. For the church it works the other way round. Whispering campaigns emanate from the church corridors to vote a particular candidate because ‘he had helped the church’ (u lah iarap ia ka balang). All the other acts of omission and commission of the MLA, including his failure to live up to his status as a peoples’ representative or a minister are suddenly forgotten. His virtues remains are extolled. Why? Because he donated a vehicle to the church! Is this not disgusting? Have churches not survived in the past without political patronage?

Only if the church remains an independent entity can it also have the credibility to address its followers. Otherwise, like the apostle Paul says, their sermons begin to sound like empty gongs even while the congregation falls asleep.

Political education of the congregation does not mean telling them to vote a particular party or candidate. Political education enlightens and guides people to vote wisely and not to succumb to money power. Political education enables the voter to understand issues that impinge on his day to day life and his livelihood and to demand that the system be sensitive to those needs. Belonging to a particular religion does not necessarily mean a certificate of good conduct and that voters be influenced to vote for someone from their religion. This is likely to fragment a polity which is already divided along the line of community, clan and kinship ties. Many political parties have used the church to further their agenda. This is glaringly visible in some of the urban constituencies. That the church should fall for this political bait is a sad commentary on its lack of maturity and its propensity to be easily politicized.

Using religion is bad enough but using denominations to push a political agenda is shameful. Those who use this card will never be able to rise above their petty worldviews. They can never become the statesmen and leaders that Meghalaya needs in the 21st century. Worse than the candidates who use religion are the religionists themselves who transcend denomination only because they have received ‘assistance’ from a particular candidate. Having learnt the history of bloodshed and violence in Ireland, why can we not imbibe some lessons? Why do church leaders enjoy rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty of this earth whilst they display their impatience towards suffering humanity? If the church refuses to confront corruption upfront today it is because their leaders do not want to upset those of their members who are the leading lights in politics and who also occupy the front benches closest to the sanctum sanctorum.

A leading scholar blamed the church for reducing people to the status of unquestioning followers. His contention was that the church is a one way traffic. People receive sermons but do not talk back. They have been conditioned to respond the same way even with politics. Candidates come and deliver their political sermons and people take that as gospel. There is very little debate on political issues especially in the villages.

Para church organizations which do marvelous development work have unfortunately done very little to build the capacities of those they work with in the sphere of political conscientisation. Even in an elite constituency like Laitumkhrah I was appalled that a candidate should be using the cheap tactics of organizing a concert involving kids and young people at the Fire Brigade field before delivering his political speech. As a voter of that constituency which is also the educational hub of the state I feel a sense of futility about the future of Meghalaya should such candidates win elections. Songs and dances have their place but an election platform is a place for a candidate to spell out his/her agenda and let the public raise pertinent questions. Unfortunately this is the part that candidates avoid. In fact the space to question a candidate is more available in the rural areas.

The people of Meghalaya of course are a class apart. Having been conditioned to accept all things with equanimity and gossiping, not critiquing being a favourite pastime of drawing room activists and with the church playing almost no role in building the critical analysis and questioning capacity of the faithful, because they perhaps fear that a questioning community could be a threat to their own hallowed positions, we have a polity that is so subservient and thrives on political patronage. God alone can save us from ourselves and from the complacency of religion.

But even religious complacency can be forgiven but not the use of religion as a political tool for garnering votes.

Whereas many individuals belonging to the two largest political parties in India—the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress—often argue that the country’s polity is essentially bipolar and that smaller parties have no alternative but to align themselves with one or the other "poles", the reality on the ground is far more complex. It can be contended that the process of fragmentation of the polity is not yet over and that smaller parties, including regional and caste-based outfits, do not necessarily have to become appendages of either the BJP or the Congress.

The rise of the BJP is seen as a process of the party occupying the centrist political space vacated by the Congress. Though this viewpoint is common, the reality is far more complicated. It is true that the period that witnessed the fastest growth of the BJP as an electoral force has coincided with the phase of the most rapid decline of the Congress—that is perhaps why the two phenomena are seen as correlated. However, what such a viewpoint misses is the fact that in areas where the Congress has been almost completely marginalised, it has been displaced not so much by the BJP as by smaller regional parties.

The marginalisation of the Congress in UP has not led to the BJP becoming a party with unquestioned dominance in the state. On the contrary, the party was reduced to third position in UP, behind the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the recent Assembly elections. In Bihar, the Congress has been reduced to a marginal presence over the last decade-and-a-half, but its decline has not led to the BJP becoming the dominant party. Mr. Laloo Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal or its forerunner, the Janata Dal, were the main agents of the erosion of the Congress Party’s vote banks while the Samata Party—itself a breakaway group of erstwhile JD—has a strength in Bihar that is equal to if no more than the BJP.

Could UP and Bihar represent the exception to the rule that the BJP grows to fill the vacuum created by a shrinking Congress? Not quite. In Orissa, Assam and Karnataka, for instance, the BJP has grown rapidly, more often than not by consolidating the anti-Congress political forces. It is another matter that other anti-Congress groups—such as the Janata Dal (United) in Karnataka, the Biju Janata Dal in Orissa and the Asom Gana Parishad in Assam—have at some stage decided that rather than compete with the BJP for the Opposition space, they could gain by aligning with the party.

If one looks at the period between the late-1960s and the mid-1980s, there were already signs of the Congress losing ground gradually to regional parties. The most obvious example would be Tamil Nadu, where the Congress today has little choice but to align with one or the other of the two main Dravidian parties in the state—the DMK or the AIADMK. But Tamil Nadu is not the only example.

Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, traditional strongholds of the Congress, witnessed similar trends even if the process did not lead to the complete marginalisation of the Congress. In Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu Desam Party rose from almost nowhere to become a powerful challenge to the Congress in the mid-1980s and has remained the main contender for power with the Congress. Similarly, in Maharashtra it was the rise of the Shiv Sena followed by NCP rather than the BJP, which first raised questions about just how firm the Congress’ grip on power in the state was.

In other words, the decline of the Congress has not automatically resulted in the rise of the BJP; put differently, the political tussle between the two largest political parties in India has not been a zero sum game in which the losses of one inevitably results in the other gaining by filling a so-called political vacuum.

Several political scientists have analysed the phenomenon of ‘identity politics’, and they contend that the benefits of the Nehruvian model of economic development remained confined to a section consisting of the bourgeoisie, high managerial elites, state bureaucracy and agrarian magnates and that this fostered resentment in the vast majority of the population.

It is this resentment that has been tapped by various political groups leading to the fragmentation of the polity. The resentment against the elite extends to a rejection of all that the elite stood for, including the notion of the Indian identity over-riding sub-national identities. Since this elite speaks the language of national integration and unity, the latter (movements of the non-elite) speak the negative language of localism, regional autonomy, small-scale nationalism, in dystopias of ethnicity—small xenophobic, homogeneous, political communities.

The world of political possibilities in India seems to be simplifying into the frightening choice before most of the modern world’s political communities: to try to craft imperfect democratic rules by which increasingly mixed groups of people can carry on together an unheroic everyday existence, or the illusion of a permanent and homogeneous, unmixed single nation, a single collective self without any trace of a defiling otherness.

The fragmentation of India’s polity is undoubtedly an outcome of the feeling among very large sections of the population that they had been left out of the development process. What is interesting, however, is that this resentment has not always manifested itself through parties and groups that claim to be speaking for the excluded sections of society.

The fragmentation of India’s polity, then, can be seen as the result of various sections deciding that an informal coalition like the Congress had failed to serve their interests. But what explains the tendency for coalitions to persist? It could well be the case that these sections perceive themselves as having gained from a process of explicit coalitions in which groups ostensibly speak for them.

It is pointless, in this context, to debate whether Yadavs as whole have actually gained because of the SP or the RJD, whether Dalits are better off since the BSP was formed or whether Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra have performed better after the formation of the TDP and the Shiv Sena. What matters is the popular perception among the relevant sections that their interests are being taken care of better than in the past. INAV

Sir,

Apropos the editorial 'Gorkha Menace' (ST, Feb 18), I would like state that the Gorkha Janashakti Morcha of Darjeeling vehemently opposed the proposal to grant a status under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to Gorkha Darjeeling Hill Council (GDHC). The Morcha has been demanding Gorkhaland by cancelling the Sixth Scheduled status. Mr Subash Ghising originally was also fighting for creation of a separate state for Gorkhas of Darjeeling (Gorkhaland) in 1986. Many people lost their lives in the struggle for creation of Gorkhaland, but the Congress government at Centre and the Left Front Government in West Bengal convinced Mr Ghising to accept the Darjeeling Gorkha Hills Council. Mr Ghising was happy to accept the lollypop given by the Centre in collaboration with Bengal government.

The hill people of Darjeeling accepted with grace the Gorkha Hill Council thinking that they would be benefited. But after 20 years of creation of the Hill Council, the people of Darjeeling are disillusioned with the functioning of the Council, which was a toothless proposition. The history of demand for Gorkha State or Gorkha Homeland has already completed 101 years. In 1907 the Hills Men Association spearheaded the demand for creation of Gorkhaland. In 1964, the then undivided Communist Party of India advocated for creation of Gorkhasthan or Gorkhaland when the Congress Government was in power in Bengal.

The moment the Left Front Government came to power, they completely forgot the demand they had advocated for. The Left Front Government tried to thwart the demand of the Gorkhas of the Hills by their dubious attitude. In 1986, after a span of 101 years several political parties and social organisations agitated for creation of Gorkhaland, but of no avail as the Congress government at the Centre did not like that the Gorkhas should have their own state within Bengal. The demographic pattern of Darjeeling district is politically and economically viable. In India there are many states whose populations are much more less than Darjeeling District but they are having their own states like Sikkim, Mizoram, Pondicherry etc.

The present population of Darjeeling District is more than 16 lakh as per the Census of 2001. The BJP has advocated for creation of small states for administrative convenience and when the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government was at the Centre, it created three states like Uttarakhand carved out from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand carved out from Bihar and Chattisgarh carved out from Madhya Pradesh. The people of Darjeeling are different from the people of Bengal as far as their language, culture, stature are concerned. However, Bengal is adamant to keep the Darjeeling District under its thumb so as to dominate the Gorkhas.

The Gorkhas are hill people and are alike tribals. The people of Darjeeling district are not foreigners as they have come to India with land when the Darjeeling District was annexed to the then British empire. Late Ari Bahadur Gurung, an advocate and the resident of Darjeeling District, was made the member of Constituent Assembly and Late Gurung had made valuable contributions in drafting the India Constitution. The Central Government is planning to set up Second State Reorganisation Commission to consider creation of more states like Telengana, Vidharbha etc. The creation of Gorkhaland is a fit case to be considered by the Commission. The long cherished aspiration of the Hill people will be met if the Commission considers the creation of Gorkhaland.

The Bengal Government should support for creation of Gorkhaland. The Congress-led UPA government wanted to hurriedly impose the Sixth scheduled status to Darjeeling without consulting the people of the area to please the Left Front on whose support the Government is surviving. Mr Ghising, the caretaker Chief Executive Officer of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, wanted to impose the Sixth Scheduled status to save his empire against the will of the Hill people. Fortunately on the request of Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh, Gorkha Janashakti Morcha, All India Gorkha League and others, the BJP timely opposed the proposal and the same was sent to Parliamentary Standing Committee.

The government of India should ask the people of the Hills what they want. They cannot impose upon the Hill people what they and their allies Left Front want. It is high time that the Central government and the Bengal government should read the writing on the wall and grant statehood to Darjeeling District.

Yours etc,
BB Chettri
Shillong -4

"The NE will continue to receive special attention and enhanced allocations," the Finance Minister said adding that the budgetary allocation for the region would increase. The total allocation for NE spread over different ministries, departments will increase from Rs 14,365 crores in 2007-08 to Rs 16,447 crores in 2008-09.

With elections in Meghalaya and Nagaland on March 3, Mizoram along with early parliamentary polls everywhere, this year's Budget assumes much significance. The Budget gives several soaps for the region.

The DONER Ministry's allocation has been hiked to Rs 1445 crores in this Budget, Chidambaram said.

In a significant statement, the Finance Minister said as the NE region, specially Arunachal Pradesh and the border areas face special problems that cannot be tackled in the usual course or through normal schemes, the Government proposes to identify the urgent needs of these areas and address them through a special mechanism.

He allocated Rs 500 crores in a fund to leap frog such special projects in selected areas. The North Eastern Council (NEC) has been allocated around 600 crores this year.

The region would also get benefits from schemes under externally aided projects.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank are investing in public health schemes in the region.

The region would also benefit from allocations like increase in tea fund, schemes for tribal development and such other specialised schemes. Around 500 kms of roads would be developed under the East-West corridor and Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for North-East (SARDP-NE) programme, he said in his Budget speech.