The EconomistFebruary 24th 2018 Asia 21(^2) who was investigating illegal bulldozing.
(Authorities in the state are examining at
least 300 cases of illegal tree-clearing.)
Yet clearing land eventually hurts farm-
ers too because, without trees, soil erodes
and grows saltier. Deforestation releases
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, spur-
ring global warming, and reduces regional
rainfall. Perhaps 45m animals were killed
in Queensland’s bushland bulldozing be-
tween 2015 and 2016. Loss of habitat has
brought many species, including the koala,
to the brink of extinction. The Great Barrier
Reef, which is already suffering from cli-
mate change, is also harmed by the extra
sediment washed into the ocean, which
can prevent coral from photosynthesising.
Permissive forestry laws seem especial-
ly odd given the billions of dollars the gov-
ernment spends planting trees, fighting cli-
mate change and conserving native
species. In 2016 Queensland’sminority La-
bor government tried to pass a bill to
strengthen controls on land clearance once
again. It was defeated by a hair. But Labor,
which won a state election late last year,
has promised to reintroduce the legisla-
tion. This time, it holds a majority. 7
Like Congo with eucalypts
“P
RESERVE our tradition and culture,”
reads the sign at the front of the com-
munity hall in the north-eastern Indian
state of Meghalaya. It is written in the
raspy, clacking language of the local Khasi
people, which is more closely related to
Khmer, Cambodia’s main language, than it
is to the most widely spoken languages in
India. Yet beneath it, Nalin Kohli, a suave
lawyer flown in from Delhi by the Bhara-
tiya Janata Party (BJP), which runs India’s
national government, is giving a stump
speech in Hindi. The BJP, with its centralis-
ing, Hindu nationalist ideology, does not
seem a natural fit for Meghalaya, whose
3m inhabitants are mostly Christian and
fearful of losing their identity in a country
of 1.3bn people. It is testimony to the BJP’s
political acumen that it may end up run-
ning the state later this month.
In Meghalaya and nearby Nagaland,
where an election will be held on Febru-
ary 27th, and in Tripura, a bastion of
communism that voted on February 18th,
the rest of India is called “the mainland”.
Ram Madhav, a BJPleader who works in
the eight states ofthe north-east, has writ-
ten that the region, “with its extreme diver-
sity, has always eluded a nationalist and in-
tegrationist party like the BJP”. Megha-
layans love to eat beef, for instance, a
practice many in the BJPwould like to ban,
since cows are holy to Hindus. By default,
the secular Congress party, which forms
the main opposition nationally, has tend-
ed to dominate these states.
Two years ago, however, the BJPscored
a surprising success in Assam, by far the
most populous state in the north-east. Its
campaign had two themes: economic de-
velopment and the protection of native As-
samese from an influx of immigrants. Like
the rest of the region, Assam is blessed
with copious natural resources and sparse-
ly populated areas, relative to the dusty
plains of India’s heartland. For decades lo-
cals have worried about how to keep out
other Indians. That anxiety has taken on
an anti-Islamic hue in recent years, with
the fear that Muslim Bangladeshis have
been settling in the state illegally. The BJP
dubbed the election a new “battle of Sa-
raighat”, in reference to a 17th-century
clash in which Assamese forces defeated
an invading army of (Muslim) Mughals.
The BJPhas also taken control of two
smaller north-eastern states, Arunachal
Pradesh and Manipur, by allying itself
with local parties and securing defections
from Congress. Ithas set up the North-East
Democratic Alliance, along with ten north-
eastern parties. Mr Kohli insists this is not
an electoral pact, but rather a club to work
for the betterment of the region. But Con-
gress has not been invited to join.
Congress is not keen to run on its record
in Meghalaya, which it has governed for 14
of the past 15 years. The national govern-
ment has increased its annual disburse-
ment to the state from 580bn rupees
($903m) to more than 2.5trn rupees, but
there is little to show for it. Young people,
graduates especially, yearn for jobs. Every-
one agreesthat the only adequate road is
the national highway from Shillong, the
state capital, to Assam. For a wet state with
huge potential for hydropower, both clean
water and electricity are in woefully short
supply. Wildcat coal-mining was brought
to an abrupt halt four years ago for envi-
ronmental reasons, which has left miners
fuming. Congress had at least been able to
claim its rule was peaceful, a welcome
change given that separatist insurgencies
have racked the north-east for decades. But
after a local politician wasassassinated on
February19th, apparently by separatists,
law and order has become another cudgel
with which to beat the state government.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of Congress,
took a turn at flattering the people of
Meghalaya at a rally held in Shillong on
February 21st. Traditional Khasi society is
matrilineal and Mr Gandhi, surrounded
by baton-wielding female commandos,
seemed to mean it when he said that the
rest of India could learn from minuscule
Meghalaya. He also lambasted the BJPfo r
failing to stick up for minorities elsewhere.
But he shed no light on Congress’s plans
for the state. Instead of plumping for Con-
gress or the BJP, many Meghalayans will
pick a local party. But given the BJP’s knack
for coalition-building, that is likely to usher
in a BJP-led government. 7
State elections in India
Christians for Hindu nationalism
SHILLONG
Even in unpromising territory, the BJP is a force to be reckoned with
Corrections: In a column about relations between North
and South Korea (“Two cheers for jaw-jaw”, February
17th, 2018), we said North Korean commandos had
attempted to attack the South Korean president’s
residence 40 years ago. In fact, the raid was 50 years
ago. And in an article about Japanese youth (“Seventh
heaven at 7-11”, February 17th, 2018) we said that 40%
of Japanese are virgins at the age of 34. In fact, that is
true only of unmarried Japanese. Sorry.