Congress collapsing in Arunachal?
Arunachal Pradesh seems to be bracing for difficult political times ahead. Political manoeuvrings are happening thick and fast. Sackings and resignations are in currency. Every day, political appointees are resigning in protest against chief minister Nabam Tuki’s leadership and style of functioning. The stage once again is set for a major upheaval but frankly such political wrestling is not new to the people in the frontier state.
In a way, the frontier state has probably hogged more mainstream attention for political uncertainties than anything else.
An unthinkable event took place on January 18, 1999, when Mukut Mithi pulled the rug off Gegong Apang’s feet, who was well on course to become the longest surviving chief minister surpassing the then West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu. Many termed that historic unseating of Apang after an unbroken run of 19 years as the second coming of Mithi who had earlier attempted to achieve the same in 1992. The defeated Apang had alleged that Mithi's political coup was achieved on the strength of a nexus between the Tirap-Changlang political leaders and the NSCN (Khaplang). But even before the completion of a full term, Apang drew blood despite being the lone legislator of a regional outfit. He paid back in the same coin to Congress chief minister Mithi through a well-orchestrated coup in July 2003. Like a replayed tape, Mithi alleged Apang to have paid Rs 5 crore to the NSCN ultras. But, as expected, Apang refuted the allegation. Once back in the saddle, an ageing Apang started resorting to old tactics before he was outwitted by his cabinet colleague - the late Dorjee Khandu. Khandu had an easy run till a helicopter crash killed him.
Thereafter, his close aide, confidant and cabinet colleague, Jarbom Gamlin, took over the reign as chief minister for six months when current the chief minister Nabam Tuki unseated him after an ugly spate of politics that witnessed brute use of money and muscle power besides the unleashing of communal tension and violence that led to loss of a life and property. Many in the state believe threats, intimidations and violence made those six months one of the darkest periods in Arunachal’s political history.
Keeping tradition alive, it is Tuki who is facing the heat now.
"The current phase of ineffective governance, resulting from the negative and unsatisfactory political leadership in the state is well-known to every citizen of Arunachal Pradesh," wrote former cabinet minister and a Congress heavyweight, Pema Khandu in his resignation letter on October 27 last year and added that the leadership of chief minister Nabam Tuki has failed miserably in its mandate to provide optimal governance and therefore has lost its legitimacy to continue to lead. To a large extent, Khandu’s words have echoed the prevailing sentiment of the people who are enduring an unheard of crisis. Therefore, for a change, many in the state would nod in agreement with such a statement coming from a politician.
The trading community has been complaining of lack of money in circulation and sluggish off-take of FMCG products from the shelves. Extortion, threats and forceful donations are in vogue. Politics and politicians aside, everyday experience and anecdotes shared by the local trading community is in consonance with the recent World Bank report that pegged Arunachal Pradesh at the bottom of the bottom-half as an investment destination in the entire country.
The report may be not to our liking but the report is not unfounded. For instance, Itanagar, the capital city which is also one of the three biggest commercial towns in the northern bank of Brahmaputra has recorded a compounded upswing in crime rate, as admitted by the state police department in a recently released data. Such an environment has had a negative bearing on the tourism industry, a core sector for the financial health of Arunachal. According to Union tourism ministry data, foreign tourist inflow fell by 52 per cent for Arunachal when the entire Northeast region witnessed a growth of 40 per cent. In 2014, Sikkim hosted the highest number of foreign tourists - as many as 49,175 as compared to 31,698 in 2013 but during the same years, the figure fell by more than a half in Arunachal Pradesh to 5,204 in 2014 from 10,846 in 2013.
In a sense, it must have been frustrating for Khandu - the son of former chief minister the late Dorjee Khandu - who has been the tourism minister since 2011. He definitely had reason to be unhappy with the functioning of chief minister Tuki. In the same resignation letter, he was harsh and terse in running down the failing law and order and climate of insecurity and indecisiveness.
Khandu is not an exception in expressing his grievance against his chief minister. There were at least six more cabinet ministers who voiced their concern on failing governance, rather misgovernance, but they all have been sacked from the ministry since then. Five of them were sacked as recently as in the second week of October. The rebellion against misgovernance was triggered by senior Congress leader, Kalikho Pul who was sacked from the cabinet almost a year ago. Pul had alleged financial mismanagement and irregularities that led to overdraft of the state exchequer.
The larger emerging picture is of a deeper cementing divide of “Chief Minister vs Rest”. One of the sacked ministers Kumar Waii accused Tuki of self-inflicting the deeper divide. "CM Tuki has created his own team of super-18 whereas we are 47 Congress legislators," said Waii. A day after Khandu’s resignation, three more chairpersons of various autonomous bodies tendered resignations citing poor leadership, financial mismanagement and deteriorating law and order. For the beleaguered chief minister Tuki, problem is compounding with each passing day. "We are awaiting response from AICC, if not heeded to, we will move a no-confidence motion against our CM," Waii added.
The power struggle for the CM’s chair has not changed much but what has changed is the alibi; the politicians are talking facts and figures. It is not just whimsical as it used to happen in the past. There definitely one can smell some freshness, like it or not. In this political hullabaloo, when governance has come to a standstill as a result of misgovernance witnessed in past couple of years, governor JP Rajkhowa is quietly monitoring development work. It is expected that the Raj Bhavan would have a more critical and crucial role to play in the next couple of weeks since there is a vertical split between the Speaker and deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Till the on-going political crisis is resolved, it will be the Raj Bhavan that the commoners would be looking upto.