Transparency of first CM remembered by cabinet member Salseng on 26th death anniv
SHILLONG: On the eve of the 26th death anniversary of first Meghalaya chief minister Captain W.A Sangma, former chief minister Salseng C Marak on Monday urged NEHU scholars and the Education Department to highlight more the contribution of late Sangma by carrying out studies and researches.
Marak said that since a detailed biography of late Sangma is unavailable, scholars should do research on his contribution for the sake of the future generations. Marak also remembered late Sangma as a person who did everything for public interest and added that he had time to listen to the grievances of the ministers and legislators irrespective of party affiliations and carried them along.
“He was my guru and a mass leader. He used to work with people and officers alike. He liked frank discussion to come to a conclusion and he never brushed aside others’ views,” Marak said. The former chief minister also recalled that late Sangma was so transparent that his tour programmes were made public and all the legislators knew about his whereabouts. Marak, who was a cabinet minister in the ministry of late Sangma since 1975, both under the banner of APHLC and the Congress, recalled that beyond the cabinet meetings where he used to listen to the ideas of ministers, he lent an ear to the grievances of a cross-section of people.
Highlighting the late chief minister’s “crucial role” in the hill state movement, Marak said he did not deviate from the principle though leaders from Mizoram, Nagaland and other neighbouring states, who were once part of the movement, took different paths.
On why the first chief minister left APHLC, Marak said, after the objective of the statehood was achie-ved, he felt that for the overall benefit of the state and its people, he should join the Congress, which was in power in Delhi under the Indira Gandhi’s leadership.
According to Marak, late Sangma was respected by the central leaders for his contribution to the state. He also remembered that the first president of the country, Rajendra Prasad, came to Tura in 1952 to inaugurate the GHADC with late Sangma as the first CEM.
Besides occupying various constitutional positions, late Sangma had also served as the Governor of Mizoram.
Marak and late Sangma are the only chief ministers in the state to have completed the full five-year term in office without interruption.