Shillong: When the BJP appointed Nalin Kohli to take charge of the party in Meghalaya they had their ears to the ground. Kohli has visited Meghalaya at least a dozen times. His father, A.R. Kohli, who was Governor of Mizoram during the NDA regime also acted as Governor of Meghalaya for a brief period in June-July 2001 when the united regional front of the Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum (MPF) government led by E.K. Mawlong (late) was at the helm in Meghalaya.
Kohli spoke to this correspondent on the strategies that the BJP is adopting in Meghalaya to prepare itself for the 2018 elections. Stating that he is no newcomer to the scene, Kohli said he had come to Meghalaya to campaign for A.L. Hek in 2008. When asked why the BJP has set up only 6 candidates in the upcoming GHADC polls, Kohli’s response was that the BJP needed to build an organizational base in Garo Hills and prepare itself for the 2018 assembly elections.
“My purpose is to get a sense of the ground situation and to see how the BJP can build on the positive response it got in the Lok Sabha elections where our candidate Shibun Lyngdoh got 95,959 votes. This is quite an achievement for the BJP! I am an activity-driven person. It is my objective to encourage any person with enthusiasm and drive and with bright ideas to do anything positive through the BJP in the larger interests of the people of Meghalaya,” Kohli stated.
When asked what he has to say about the controversies surrounding the meat (beef) ban that has created a fear psychosis among tribals of the North East about the BJP’s Hindutva agenda, Kohli said, “There can be no room for a ‘one rule fits all’ in a country as diverse as India. Ultimately it is the Constitution which is the ultimate guide. As far as cow slaughter is concerned it is mentioned in the Directive Principles of State Policy hence it is for states to take a call on whether or not they wish to ban cow slaughter. To impose a ban on cow slaughter on states of the North East which have traditionally and culturally depended on beef for their food is untenable and the BJP has no such intentions.”
Commenting on the recent killing of Mohammed Akhlaq, a Muslim farmer in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad district, a few kilometres away from Delhi, Kohli said he has been on television and stated upfront that a murder is a murder and those who have committed the crime must be arrested and the law must take its course.
On whether the BJP is having a tie-up with P.A. Sangma’s Nationalist Peoples’ Party (NPP), Kohli said the BJP has not tied up with anyone.
“I am in Meghalaya to genuinely build the party from the grass roots and have been meeting a cross section of people including old and new party workers. In Garo Hills we need to build a strong organizational network. Hence I am going to Garo Hills on October 10, also to get a feel of how the District Council election there is panning out. The GHADC elections will give us an indicator of the political road map we need to chalk out for ourselves for the 2018 Assembly elections,” he said.
“I am open to meeting intellectuals of the state, professionals and academicians, youth groups, et al, which I will do on my subsequent visits,” he added.
