Campaign Diary: Gender Justice Is Meghalaya’s Need Of The Hour

Fighting Despair

In Meghalaya, we have seen a corrupt and criminal capture of the electoral space. In 50 years of Meghalaya as a state, there has been a constant decline in development indicators,  a very low per capita income and a slow-growing economy.  A 2022 report showed that 50 percent of the children in class eight could not do simple addition, subtraction and division. The Performance Grading Index shows Meghalaya to be lagging. I decided to get into electoral politics about two years ago during the pandemic. While people were suffering, politicians were making money off the disaster unfolding before our eyes. Young people had a sense of hopelessness. Talking to them, I felt we could not lose hope and let the political sphere be captured by corrupt politicians. The situation has gotten so bad that we have to struggle in every democratic space available on the road, in court when needed and in the Assembly. Entering electoral politics at this level is an extension of our activism. We have to bring in laws and policies to end this sense of hopelessness.

No Politics Without Women

Through my politics, I am seeking gender justice. We are a matrilineal society within a very patriarchal setup. Other than lineage and inheritance, when it comes to decision- making, even at the local self-governance level,women, in many places, are barred from voting, from participating in deliberations. If matriliny guaranteed equality, then why, in our 60-member assembly, has the maximum number of women we have ever been only five? If you look closely at these legislators, you would find them related to someone already in a position of power. It is a situation that reeks of dynastic politics.

Other indicators like Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR)  and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) are highest in the region. We have  a great number of anaemic women. We have the highest numbers of cases of domestic violence. When it comes to violence, we have been demanding for a Directorate of Prosecution so that crimes against women and children have dedicated, specialised prosecutors. But it has never come through. We also fought very hard to get a Women’s Commission and to ensure that appointments are made through a selection committee and not political appointments. But to no avail. Institutions meant for women should be more independent. Because of rampant corruption, schemes and policies meant for controlling MMR and IMR are not reaching them. We have to focus on how to  ensure more women participation in decision-making. 76 percent of Meghalaya are landless. We are supposed to be an egalitarian tribal society. But in reality, inequality and exploitation are stark within communities. People don’t have agricultural and homestead land. There is a large class divide widening within the Khasi-Jaintia community. The divide has been exacerbated with criminality and the capture of land by corrupt elites.

Our Mission

My campaign is about bridging gaps: one is the development  gap; we are one of the poorest states where 39 percent of the population is still below the poverty line. The other one is between communities. The narrative of outsiders versus insiders is a distraction as are communal reasons for economic backwardness. There is violence on the streets. We have always stood up against any kind of politics of hate; we have stood up against beef bans and we protested against the proceedings in the recent Bilkis Bano case. There was an attempt from the Meghalaya High Court to impose AFSPA in the state which we protested. We are against targeted violence by state or by non-state actors.

Transparency and commitment

We are crowdfunding this campaign and many people have contributed towards it. Our accounts are in the public domain to ensure that the volunteers working with us do it not for the money but because they believe in our ideas. Ideas that we shall realise.

(This appeared in the print edition as "Campaign Diary")

Angela Rangad is an anti-mining and rights activist and a candidate for the Assembly polls from 19 South Shillong constituency of Meghalaya