[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 7 Sep: In the 60-member state assembly, there are 15 former government servants, including two retired chief engineers, one superintending engineer, two executive engineers, one assistant engineer, two DDSEs, two civil service officers, two teachers, and a few others.
Education Minister Taba Tedir and Industry Minister Tumke Bagra were chief engineers of their respective departments. Bagra retired as secretary in the government of Arunachal Pradesh.
Other members of the retired engineers’ club in the assembly include Agriculture Minister Tage Taki, and MLAs Talem Taboh, Kanggong Taku and Taniya Soki. The two retired DDSEs are MLAs Dorjee Wangdi Kharma and Kento Rina. PHE&WS Minister Wangki Lowang and MLA Wanglam Sawin are former teachers.
Further, Tapuk Taku, Ninong Ering, Laisam Simai, Tarin Dakpe and Chakat Aboh are also former government servants.
There is also a considerable number of MLAs with a political legacy. Chief Minister Pema Khandu and his younger brother Tsering Tashi are the sons of former chief minister late Dorjee Khandu, while NPP chief and Roing MLA Mutchu Mithi is the son of veteran Congress leader and former CM Mukut Mithi. Lumla MLA Jambey Tashi is also a cousin of the chief minister.
Legislative Assembly Speaker PD Sona, Namsai MLA Zingnu Namchoom, and Congress MLA Ninong Ering also belong to political families. Their fathers were illustrious politicians who were ministers in the Arunachal cabinet, and, in the case of Daying Ering, a union cabinet member.
There are four women MLAs – Gum Tayeng, Dasanglu Pul, Jummum Ete Deori and Chakat Aboh.
Besides CM Pema Khandu and his younger brother Tsering Tashi, Urban Development Minister Kamlung Mossang and Diyun MLA Somlung Mossang are other brothers in the assembly.
Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein and Congress MLA Nabam Tuki, who were both elected for the first time in 1995, have not lost a single election till now.
With money culture playing an important role in elections, political activists who started their careers from the grassroots level are increasingly finding it difficult to make it to the state assembly. The era of student leaders and political workers getting elected to the assembly is slowly fading.
However, there are still a good number of such leaders in the present assembly. The MLAs who rose to prominence from student politics include Hayeng Mangfi (ANSU), Kumsi Sidisow (AAPSU), Ojing Tasing (AAPSU), Jikke Tako (former general secretary of Dera Natung Government College Students’ Union), Nabam Tuki (NSUI), and Home Minister Bamang Felix (AAPSU).
Itanagar MLA Techi Kaso, a former ZPM, is among the most popular leaders who rose from the grassroots level. MLA Gabriel Denwang Wangsu is the lone former media person in the present assembly.
With the 2024 assembly election just two years away, many believe that more government servants will take retirement and fight the election.
“Already there are talks of some engineers taking voluntary retirement to fight the election. We can’t blame them also. These days voters first ask for bank balance before deciding to extend support to the candidates. Only retired super rich government servants and rich businessmen can dream of becoming MLAs,” said a political activist.
