By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Taking a strong exception to UDP legislator Ardent Basaiwmoit’s outburst against the selection of party candidates, the party on Wednesday defended the candidature of Dr Md. Mazinur Rehman Kazi.
Dr Kazi will be contesting 2013 Assembly polls from Rajabala.
In a letter addressed to Basaiwmoit, the UDP general secretary BG Momin said the party was pained that the legislator had chosen to raise issues pertaining to its functioning in the media instead of raising them within the party platform “as is expected of all matured and disciplined party leaders”.
The UDP legislator has been vocal against allotment of the party ticket to Dr Kazi, who, according to him, is a non-indigenous person from West Garo Hills. The UDP’s Nongkrem circle also supported the views of Basaiawmoit.
Taking a serious note on the issue, Momin said, there had been systematic campaign on his part to deliberately ignore the basic fundamentals of intra-party democracy which the UDP stands for. Momin said, “The issue of allotment of party tickets is being discussed from time to time in the State Election Committee of which you are a member and, for reasons best known to you, you have chosen not to attend a couple of those meetings where the Constituency mentioned in your letter, Rajabala constituency was discussed and deliberated upon at great length”. The party leader said it was extremely strange and unexpected that the matter is being dragged into the realm of controversy by him on the pretext that “an outsider” is being nominated as the party candidate.
“To refresh your memory, this is not the first instance where genuine non- indigenous candidates have been given party tickets by the UDP”, Momin said in the letter.
Justifying the selection of Dr Kazi as the official candidate of the party, Momin said that it was done after due diligence and thoughtful consideration given the fact that he is a fourth generation representative of a highly respected family which traces its genesis in Rajabala to as far back as the pre-independence era. According to the UDP leader, Dr Kazi’s great grandmother had her name registered in the National Register of Citizens in 1951 as a resident Monza No.VI under Phulbari Thana of Garo Hills Sub-Division.
“While the UDP is well alive to the issue of protecting the interests of ethnic tribal societies of Meghalaya, we are equally conscious of the presence of the permanent non-indigenous communities who have made Meghalaya their hearth and home for centuries together. This is a historical fact we cannot wish away and we do, in fact, need the support and good will of this vibrant community to be able to tackle the menace of illegal immigration”, the UDP leader added.