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Journalism of Courage
On a crisp February morning, in a working class pocket of Shillong’s Keating Road, Wanpynhun Kharsyntiew sat in deep conversation with Kiran Mandal. “It’s tough raising them (my children) on my own,” said Mandal, a single mother of two who runs a tea stall for a living.
Kharsyntiew said she understood. “My husband used to drink and fight – I have gone through some bad times,” she responded. “It doesn’t matter if I win or lose, I will still help you.”
Kharsyntiew, once a domestic help, is part of KAM Meghalaya, a new political platform of activists and social workers who have come together to contest the elections this year under a common umbrella. Since it is not a registered political party, the three candidates under its banner are contesting as Independents in three key urban constituencies of Shillong.
Always dressed in a Khasi jainsem (traditional garment worn by women), never without her kwai (betel nut) and endearingly referred to as “Kong Wanpynhun”, Kharsyntiew is contesting from East Shillong constituency where Keating Road falls.
Kharsyntiew’s campaign, which began as early as June 2022, is entirely run on a door-to-door model. She starts her day in the morning, going from one Shillong neighbourhood to another, along the way stopping by many homes like Mandal’s for a quick chat and an appeal: to vote for her on February 27.
“It’s been tough and tiring but also interesting,” said Kharsyntiew. “As activists, field work is not new for us and neither is visiting people.”
Apart from Kharsyntiew, the other two candidates are Angela Rangad, one of Shillong’s most well-known activists, and Krysoibor Pyrtuh, a former pastor known for his community work. Over the years, the three have engaged in several political interventions, including the strengthening of the Right to Information Act, campaigns against uranium mining and big dams, and unionisation of security guards, health workers and street vendors, among others. In July 2021, Rangad sat alone in protest in front of the state secretariat, demanding that the Meghalaya government release the promised financial aid to daily wagers amid the Covid lockdown. One of the most enduring images from the 10-long-day protest was of the 47-year-old Rangad sitting with placards, amid heavy rain, surrounded by policemen.
“This platform has emerged from our past work. We carry the same principle, values and causes we have been struggling for into this platform,” said Rangad, speaking to The Indian Express, at her home in Shillong’s Moti Nagar area, minutes before embarking on her door-to-door campaign.
Rangad said the platform was necessitated by a realisation that “people at the helm are not politicians but actually businessmen”. “It was this sense of disillusionment that made us decide to challenge,” she said.
However, observers say the trio face an uphill task in their bid to challenge status quo given electoral politics in Meghalaya is often driven by money and muscle power. Rangad is taking on the BJP’s Sanbor Sullai, a three-time MLA from South Shillong. Kharsyntiew is up against heavyweight Ampareen Lyngdoh, who recently moved to the National People’s Party from the Congress. Pyrtuh, who gave up his pastorship in 2021 after two decades, has to contend with, among others, M Kharkhrang, a former police officer who has been fielded by the BJP.
The battlelines for the 60-seat Assembly are drawn between the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) that is the new entrant to the state’s political arena. In a dramatic entry in November 2021, the TMC, which had no footprint in the state, became the principal Opposition when as many as 12 Congress MLAs led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma joined the party. The besieged Congress, which was the single largest party in 2018, is contesting the election with several fresh faces. The BJP, too, is looking to better its 2018 tally of two seats — breaking away from the Conrad Sangma-led NPP coalition, it is contesting the polls separately.
It’s in this entrenched set-up that the three KAM candidates hope to create a ripple.
The campaigns of all three KAM candidates have been crowdfunded. “Even our printing of campaign material got paid for. The other day, somebody sent food to the office, somebody contributed a photocopy machine, the artistes sang our election songs without taking money,” said Rangad. “It is driven by social media and personal touch – by people who are sympathetic to our cause.” Said Pyrtuh: “For our door-to-door campaigns, we don’t go in platoons [like other political parties]. At most, two more volunteers will go with us.”
As The Indian Express trailed Kharsyntiew during her campaign in Keating Road, she was accompanied only by her nephew and brother-in-law. The former was helping her carry the campaign material while the latter drove her around in a small Maruti Alto.
“It is important for candidates to spend time with people because humans love to share things,” said Kharsyntiew, 42, who has been associated with the National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) since the early 2000s. “For me, there is no work below dignity. When I realised I had to feed my two children, I began working at the homes of multiple families as a part-time domestic worker.”
Rangad said what set their campaign apart was their stress on “inclusivity” in a state often roiled by insider-outsider conflict. She claimed that they are the only party to have published campaign material in all four languages spoken in the city: Khasi, Bengali, English and Hindi.
Pyrtuh pointed out all three constituencies that KAM was contesting were cosmopolitan with tribal and non-tribal pockets. “Our activism transcends class and community,” said Pyrtuh. “Many street vendors and hawkers who they have lobbied for in the past have been voluntarily shutting their stalls early to take part in the campaign. That is already a victory for us.”
