Assam’s new Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

Virender Kapoor

(virenderkapoor21@yahoo.com)

Everybody in the world is capable of democratic development. Some people in the world are unlucky enough to get stuck with really bad political leadership and with really bad political institutions. – Condoleezza Rice

The Northeast: An overview

I have had the opportunity to be in the Northeast for a substantial period of time to feel the area from close quarters. What hits you first is the vast expanse of this region. The distance is given in hours, not miles. If you say how far is so and so place, the driver would say, “Sir, ten hours’!

No wonder then that the seven sisters—seven states in the Northeast—occupy almost 8% of the land area of the nation. The two largest states are Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, which are almost equal in area. Assam is the gateway to this heavenly piece of land, which was unfortunately totally neglected by the governments after we got independence. Even the British did not do much to develop this area, which had timber, rubber, bamboo, tea and oil, besides potential for floriculture. Digboi is a city in Assam, and it is said that Canadians first noticed oil on the feet of elephants. That’s how oil was discovered here. The first refinery was started here as early as 1901.

The Northeast is one of the most beautiful and mysterious parts of India, but it is also the least explored and understood. The news that trickles out of the media is mostly bad, and we only hear about kidnappings, bomb blasts, ambushes, and other such events. What remains hidden is the beautiful land with beautiful people who are completely innocent, peace-loving, artistic, eager to be heard, and as Indian as you and I are.

Being sparsely populated and not sending many MPs to Parliament, the entire Northeast is generally bypassed by the government and the rest of the country; there are no major industries, and the government is the only source of employment. In desperation, the youth have often resorted to violence to assert their identities and be heard.

One wonders why this ‘heaven on Earth, cradle of gold,” was left neglected by the whites and even us Indians. Maybe “death by distance” was the inertia against it.

The present

After we got our independence, we still did not wake up, and the Northeast was a land “far away’. It was practically cut off from the mainland, and I feel it was more of a loss for the nation than the Northeast.

As an outsider (as I do not belong to this area), I feel it was a raw deal in terms of political leadership. We did extract crude oil and get wood, tea, and rubber, but there was never a focused developmental approach for this hugely fertile area. It was something like psychological exclusion. No payback.

When I wrote a book on our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, during my research, I realised that he was very clear about nurturing the Northeast even before becoming the PM. And he did it. The Central Government can invest money and allocate funds, but you need leadership on the ground to absorb that money, and here came Assam’s new Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, also known as HBS (Harvard Business School), maybe a coincidental rhyming match.

With metre-gauge rail lines until the recent past, it was a double-engine Sarkar on a broad gauge in every sense of the term.

It is leader, Leader and Leader.

Having run prestigious business schools for more than two decades and written books on leadership, I feel the most important ingredient that acts like a catalyst for development is ‘leadership’. In the case of a nation or a state, political will and a good leader can turn the tide. The qualities of effective leadership include courage, strength, the ability to communicate effectively, knowledge, judgement, integrity, and interpersonal skills. A particularly important quality is vision, along with the power to implement that vision.

Himanta Biswas Sarma is one such person who has recently taken over the reins of the Northeast in general and Assam in particular.

They have awakened

a sleeping giant

Whichever way you look at it, the Northeast is a huge reservoir of natural resources, massive rivers, and innocent people whose potential needs to be harnessed in the right direction.

While speaking at the Republic Summit, he said that the entire Northeast, where he has spent his entire life, has lived with bomb blasts, terrorism, extortions, and bullets. In the last nine years, things have totally changed, and that is what people want.

“The Northeast has moved from violence and conflicts in the last eight years to an era of peace and progress. Since 2014, extremism in the region has decreased by 74%, attacks on security forces have come down by 60%, and civilian deaths have decreased by 89%,” the Home Minister, Mr. Shah, said.

Prime Minister Modi has visited the Northeast more than 50 times and has always promoted the language, culture, literature, costumes, and cuisine. Addressing the golden jubilee celebration of the North Eastern Council (NEC) in Meghalaya’s capital Shillong, he said the Centre is spending Rs 7 lakh crore in the region compared to Rs 2 lakh crore after India’s independence. Established in 1971 and formally inaugurated in 1972, the NEC is the nodal agency for the economic and social development of the north-eastern region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Centre has been investing heavily in the Northeast, with his government’s motto being ‘Act fast for the Northeast’ and ‘Act first for the Northeast”. Himanta da is at the helm of affairs.

With so much focus and care by the Centre in this area and so much money being poured in, you require a man on the ground to implement this and deploy money in an appropriate manner.

Man of the moment

HBS is the man on a mission—he is a thorough nationalist and a no-nonsense man. He talks straight and shoots straight. No holds barred. People have been fed up with politicians making false promises; today, the young India wants leaders who speak their minds and deliver.

Today, people wait to listen to him, and I, for one, tune in whenever he speaks. A leader requires gumption and guts, and HBS has both in plenty. He has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders as he is the sentinel at the gateway to the Northeast, and he inspires confidence in his people.

Arnab Goswamy, the editor in chief of Republic who has known him for a long time, said, ‘As the Health Minister of Assam, he did a lot of things differently. He is an ardent fan of badminton, and after dinner he would play a game, and almost at midnight he would go to visit hospitals in his own car, driving himself!’ This is his commitment to his job; as a workaholic, he can chase his goals tenaciously. The ability to articulate what you are doing, to be clear about it, and to stick to it is, I think, the essence of political leadership, which he demonstrates.

He says, “I cannot compete with Delhi as I don’t have that much money, but I am doing my best. While Delhi is busy opening ‘mohalla clinics,” I am opening 24 hospitals in the state! Whatever I am doing is with the aim of bringing Assam to the top ten states in the country in GDP, health, and per capita income.” He is all for competitive federalism. But one thing is clear in his mind: there should be no regional imbalance. A person in the Northeast pays the same income tax as a person in Mumbai but does not get access to the same facilities and opportunities, and thus some of our talent goes to these areas for a better life. We lose talent, and metros get overpopulated. What clarity of vision!

Nationalism redefined

He is clear-headed and a no-nonsense man. When asked about UCC, he said we owe it to the women of the nation—gender equality—and have given it a real different outlook and direction to the vexed problem.

He says we must respect our old heritage, and it has nothing to do with religion; we need to preserve our culture, our monuments, and our scriptures.

I feel Assam is blessed to have a Chief Minister who is doing everything right to get the best deal for his people. He is a national asset.

Another ten years, and Assam and the North East will be something the nation will be proud of.

(Virender Kapoor, a best-selling author, is a thinker, an educator, and an inspirational guru. An alumnus of IIT Bombay and the former director of a prestigious management institute under the Symbiosis umbrella).