SHILLONG: The state BJP leadership on Tuesday criticised Cabinet Minister Ronnie Lyngdoh for seeing “hidden agenda” in the recent meeting of BJP leader Nalin Kohli with church leaders.
Ronnie had told a section of the media recently that the purpose of the BJP meeting was to appease the church leaders with a hidden agenda.
Taking exception to the stand of the Mylliem legislator, BJP Vice President JA Lyngdoh said in a statement that the meeting with the Christian community was to provide an opportunity to interchange opinions on issues perplexing the minds of the general public.
“The meeting had nothing to do with electioneering for 2018. There were in fact no hidden agenda. The only agenda of BJP is development and a corruption-free government in Meghalaya which the Congress government fears to tread,” Lyngdoh said.
He said Kohli had stated in his meeting with church leaders that it had nothing to do with politics and added that Ronnie can get a clarification from the church leaders in this regard.
“The Congress got only 46 MPs after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and several states had rejected the Congress, people know that the era of Congress is gone and they feel that BJP is the only alternative,” he said.
The BJP leader said out of the 29 states, BJP and its allies have secured power in 18 and predicted a BJP-led government in Meghalaya.
According to Lyngdoh, the state leadership is willing to offer any assistance as per the provision of the Constitution of India and there should not be any fear on the part of any religious leaders.
“We want to recommend a refresher course to the legislators of the State on the Constitution of India. The provisions relating to ‘Right to Freedom of Religion’ under Articles 25 and 28 of the Constitution make India a secular state. To make it doubly sure, the 42nd amendment of the Constitution inserts the term ‘secular’ in the preamble of the Constitution”.
On Ronnie’s allegations that BJP is planning to saffronise the country, the state BJP leadership reminded the legislator that as for Goa, a former Portuguese colony, the election turned out a little surprising.
“Despite the fear that Christians would be affected, the Indian coastal state elected the highest number of Christian lawmakers this time since state polls were first held in 1963,” Lyngdoh said.
Seven of the 13 BJP members elected are Christians and for the first time in the state, they out-numbered other religious denominations, he said.
Lyngdoh said church in Meghalaya was never involved in electioneering for any political party but he wished that honest and corruption-free public representatives should be elected irrespective of party affiliations.
“Hence, BJP as a political party has no intention to patronise hidden agenda as alleged by the legislator. The issue being raised by the Congress that BJP is interfering in the provision of the Constitution is evidently surcharged with politics, more than any grave concern for human rights or democratic conventions,” the BJP leader said.
According to Lyngdoh, the Congress has dearth of issues to fight BJP and its situation in the State is worsening by the day. Hence the Congress has come with a political conspiracy to paint BJP with the brush of anti-Christian and beef-ban agenda.
“The Congress must go through the history of the party as to what happened during its regime in Arunachal and Brahmaputra Valley. On the contrary, the only agenda of BJP is development and a corruption-free government with an aim to uplift the poor,” Lyngdoh asserted.
NGT ban
Regarding NGT ban on coal mining, Lyngdoh said BJP should not be blamed for this as the Congress government failed to come up with a Mining Policy.
“Why it took so long to frame rules on Mining Policy, or is it because you do not have your good will to do it or maybe you do not have confidence in taking consultations with all stakeholders and you are to be blamed for this,” the BJP asked Ronnie.
Lyngdoh also asserted that BJP is committed to solving this problem once and for all within a short span of time if the party is voted to power.
