Aditi Phadnis: Strife in the hills

PLAIN POLITICS

On September 30, the Garo hills, in one of India's most peaceful north eastern states (Meghalaya), heard unusual sounds: gunfire. Police officials said they had no choice but to open fire in Tura and Williamnagar when a few hundred student demonstrator members of the Garo Students Union began throwing stones at them. The protests were over shifting the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education, from Tura to Shillong. Ten boys died in the firing.

For the Garos, that was outrageous. They represented the ruling class of Meghalaya, they were the ones on whom the survival of the ruling Congress coalition government in the state depended. Then how did the police open fire at them?

There hangs a story. Because of the firing, this time, Meghalaya Chief Minister D Dethwelson Lapang might be successful in booting out his Deputy Chief Minister (who also holds the home portfolio) Mukul Sangma.

As in all other political upheavals in the north-east, this too has at its roots ethnic/tribal rivalry, loyalties that take no time to stir up in the north-east and lurk close to the surface. But it is also a straightforward story of a power struggle that is the hallmark of Congress politics in the region. At the time of writing, the tug of war was still playing itself out.

Consider the cast of characters. To Meghalaya belongs Purno Sangma, the state's best known face in Delhi. Sangma used to be one of the stars of the Congress-I and rose to become Speaker of the Lok Sabha until he felt he was being sidelined and quit the party.

He now represents the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), such as it is, in the Lok Sabha from Tura and has threatened to resign from his seat in protest against the firing. In Maharashtra the NCP is in coalition with the Congress. In Meghalaya, the NCP is in opposition.

Congress leaders say they have a shrewd feeling Purno Sangma put the students up to the protest. The Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education head office was set up at Tura by him in 1974.

Last week, Chief Minister D D Lapang's government revamped the Board by appointing a new executive chairman at Tura, and a separate regional director at Shillong, the cradle of Khasi hills. The Garos think this is tantamount to bifurcation of the Board and a prestige issue. Not so, says Lapang, the Board had not been bifurcated, only revamped through an Ordinance amending the MBoSE Act of 1973, following recommendations of a high-powered committee two weeks ago.

It is another matter that Lapang stands to gain the most from the episode, especially if he can use it to sack his home minister, without whose permission the firing could not have taken place. DD Lapang took over as Chief Minister of Meghalaya in March 2003. He was strongly challenged at the time by Mukul Sangma, but the High Command stepped in and Sangma was persuaded to step down and accept deputy chief ministership with home and education portfolios.

Lapang had another challenger. Gentleman politician, the suave and sophisticated P R Kyndiah, from the Lushai hills, was another claimant for chief ministership. He was brought to the Centre and made minister in charge of the Department of North Eastern Region (DONER).

Kyndiah has his own ideas about how the north-east should be developed. So irked was Lapang by Kyndiah's moves that he contacted other friendly and not-so-friendly north-eastern chief ministers to band them into a common front against some of the policies of DONER.

A few months ago, Mukul Sangma again tried to organise a coup against Lapang. Delhi got to know of it and it was put down. But the composition of the Meghalaya Assembly is such that it is not difficult to overthrow the chief minister.

At present, in a 60-member House, the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance has 48 MLAs with 29 from the Congress, 16 from other allied parties and three independents. In the Opposition is the NCP with seven MLAs, two from the BJP and one independent.

In the wake of the Garo hills massacre "" that is in the past one week, two out of the three independent MLAs have withdrawn support to the coalition government. Of the 29 Congress MLAs, 13 come from the Garo Hills.

So it is not inconceivable that if all the political forces from Garo hills "" 13 from the Congress, 7 from NCP and the independents "" break the MDA, the Lapang government goes into a minority.

Given his background, Lapang is clever in a way that the others are not. If Kyndiah, who has been Governor of Mizoram for five years, uses a fork and knife at the dinner table, says grace before every meal and is very much the epitome of the brown sahib, Lapang has come up the hard way.

He belongs to the Ri Bhoi district in the east Khasi hills of the state, not the prestigious Garo hills, started his career as a road labourer and after getting a bachelor's degree through evening classes, became a school teacher. He served as a typist in the Assam Civil Secretariat and then as Lower Division Assistant. Understandably, he has little or no affection for the Garos. He would like to see the last of the two Sangmas "" Purno and Mukul who hate each other but are both from Garo Hills.

Soon after he took over as the CM, he wrote a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, making out a case for the continuance of M M Jacob as Governor (who by the way was appointed as Governor by the NDA government). You never know when the Governor's help might be needed...

Lapang knows the Congress will do everything to save a state government if there is a danger to it. If Mukul Sangma "" a young, educated, ambitious and highly-talented politician "" is taken off his back, the challenge from the Garo Hills can be managed.

But can ethnic passions be doused so easily? Recognising the dangers of the situation, Home Minister Shivraj Patil rushed to the Garo hills earlier this week. It is possible that in trying to master the game, Lapang might be the one losing his job.

He was a notable absentee at the Chandigarh conclave of Congress chief ministers. Not surprising "" he is fighting to ensure he's there to be invited the next time around.