Hoping leaves behind the art of winning elections without money power
in West Khasi Hills district.
SHILLONG: With veteran politician HS Lyngdoh becoming history, he has left behind the art of winning elections continuously without money and muscle power.
There is still room for clean politics amid the growing trend of winning elections through money and muscle power in Meghalaya, if one goes by the unique example of H S Lyngdoh, who won as many as 11 times as MLA without spending any amount of money from his pocket.
Politicians and relatives, who are close to HS Lyngdoh admitted that the late leader has left behind a legacy for others to inculcate the principle of honesty in politics.
“People used to come and put money in his pocket and ration for the volunteers were also provided by people during elections campaigns”, said Badarati Lyngdoh, the niece of the late leader.
The relatives said that he remained honest with his strong faith in God which helped him to lead a life of moral values.
“Even when many people were against him, he never went against them”, Lyngdoh said.
Cabinet Minister HDR Lyngdoh, who attended the funeral of HS Lyngdoh in his native village Mawkyllei on Tuesday, said that in 1988 when he was with HSPDP, he had witnessed large gathering during his election campaign in Nongstoin.
“He never spent any money during elections, but on the contrary it was people’s responsibility to make him win in the election”, he added.
The Minister said that after the campaign, Lyngdoh had shown him coins and currency notes ranging from 50 piase to Rs 100 which were put in his pockets by his supporters. When counted, the total amount was Rs 2,100.
According to the Minister, Lyngdoh was a different political figure like late BB Lyngdoh.
The Minister said that since he did not have a house, he used to stay in IB, Nongstoin during his visit to the constituency.
Shillong MP Vincent Pala, who laid the foundation stone for a college at Mawkyllei, the native village of late Lyngdoh last month said that his honesty should be emulated by all. “He was the symbol of honesty, we have a lot of things to learn from him”, he added.
Stating that as the late leader never spent any money during elections, Tura MP PA Sangma said “We have to go back to that period when leaders like Capt. WA Sangma, BB Lyngoh, HS Lyngdoh and Nichols Roy and many others stood for honesty and clean politics”.
Getting elected 11 times as an MLA besides serving as an MDC and MP is a record of sorts in Meghalaya, Sangma said, adding that Lyngdoh created a cadre based party with committed workers which resulted in his win all the time.
“He never got married, he did not have any house and those days, he used his salary to buy text books from book stalls to be distributed to the poor students studying in the primary schools”, Sangma recalled.