Basaiawmoit targets to form governemnt in 2018
SHILLONG: Newly-elected HSPDP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit on Friday remained silent on the issue of the demand for a separate Khasi-Jaintia state.
Giving his maiden speech after being elected president of the Hill State People’s Democratic Party on Friday, Basaiawmoit veered clear of any reference to the party’s long-standing demand for a separate Khasi-Jaintia state, an issue that was an intrinsic part of founder party president late Hoping Stone Lyngdoh’s political ideology.
Basaiawmoit mentioned that the party would continue to pursue the issue of early demarcation of the inter-State boundary with Assam. “The issue has been lingering for decades. We would impress upon the State Government to find a solution to the boundary dispute with Assam once and for all,” he said.
The party president exuded confidence that the HSPDP will form the Government after the 2018 Assembly polls. “I am eyeing a victory in the 2018 Assembly election. I am looking forward to seeing that the party forms the Government after the election. But for this to happen I will need the support of the new Central Executive Committee (CEC) members and party workers to strengthen the party right from the grassroots level,” he said, while adding that the party was looking forward to the by-elections to the Nongstoin Assembly constituency and the vacant seats in the KHADC and JHADC.
Seeking to end all criticism about the HSPDP heading towards oblivion, Basaiawmoit said, “It is time for us to prove all our critics wrong by strengthening the party right from the grassroots level. This general council is a starting point for taking the party to newer heights.”
Basaiawmoit recalled that the HSPDP had a chance to form the Government in 1983 after winning 15 seats in the Assembly elections but could not form the Government as it had “fallen into a trap by heeding the call to unite the various regional parties”. “This was the starting point which led to the downfall of the party,” he said, while asserting that the party would not fall to such traps again.
Speaking on the core issues which the party would be raising in the days to come, Basaiawmoit said
His party would continue to oppose uranium mining in the State while demanding implementation of Article 371 of the Constitution.
He also said that the party will fight for the safety of women and children in the State.
“We are deeply concern over the recent developments where many newborn babies are being dumped. We are also concerned over the rise in cases of atrocities against women,” the newly elected HSPDP president said, adding that his party will also organize a campaign against the use of tobacco.
Besides Basaiawmoit, other newly elected members of the Central Executive Committee include K.P. Pangniang (vice president), Witting Mawsor (general secretary), Nolipstar Lyngdoh (joint secretary), Pyniaid Sing Syiem (youth president) and Teilinia Thangkhiew (president of women’s wing).
‘Ready for alliance with like-minded parties’
The newly elected HSPDP chief said his party was open to alliance with any party which was ready to accept its core issues.
The HSPDP president, however, made it amply clear that the party will never accept the unification of regional parties in the State.
To a query on whether the party was ready to work with the MUA-II Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, the HSPDP president said the present government has failed on many fronts.
According to Basaiawmoit, the HSPDP had decided to stay away from the opposition coalition in the Meghalaya Assembly since it wanted to retain its uniqueness.