MANGSANG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has said that the NPP will not waver in its stand against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill while asserting that there’s a wave in favour of the party and it is being felt across the Garo Hills.
Conrad has begun a whirlwind tour of the Garo Hills using a helicopter to get him to campaign meetings — at times hundreds of miles apart — to garner support for party candidate for the Tura Lok Sabha seat and former Union minister Agatha K Sangma.
Hoping to keep intact the NPP’s formidable fort in the north and eastern region of Garo Hills, the chief minister on Monday airdropped at three different locations — Rongrong Abema, Mangsang and Chibonga.
Addressing election rallies, Conrad struck an “emotional” chord with the electorate as he shared the dreams of his father (L) Purno Agitok Sangma of championing the cause of the indigenous people of North East.
“For MP election, the people of Garo Hills have always kept the interest of the tribesmen as the key agenda. This time also, it is not any different. The people of Garo Hills have united to show their solidarity with NPP. The wave of our party is felt across the region be it in the plains belt area of Phulbari — Rajabala or in the hills of Baghmara — Chokpot,” he said.
Accusing his opponents from the Congress of spreading misinformation, the NPP national president reiterated that his party will continue to oppose the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the near future.
“Meghalaya was the first state in India to oppose the bill. We took the initiative to unite different political parties of North East and made our voice heard in Delhi and ensured that the bill lapsed in the Rajya Sabha,” he said.
He told the gathering that people across North East were eagerly waiting to see the mandate for NPP as they believe that the party can deliver and push forward the agenda for the region. While stating that the Congress is propagating a wrong notion that NPP will partner with BJP and will ensure that the CAB is passed, he said, “We will remain true to our commitment made to the people of North East and will never allow any bill that would hamper the interest of our people.”
“The Congress is aware that they are not coming back to power. So they are saying that NPP will partner with BJP. The Congress party is well qualified from the ‘university of lies’, so they will continue to lie to the people,” he claimed.
The chief minister accused his opponents of spreading false stories about his party leaders and allies in the run up to the April 11 elections.
“They (Congress) lied that Garo National Council (GNC) is supporting the Congress, and that our leader Nihim D Shira has also joined the Congress. But both, GNC and Nihim, have clarified their stand and their lies have been caught. So they have no other option but to create and propagate wrong a notion but I am confident that the people of Garo Hills will not buy their lies.”
Promises fulfilled
He said that the NPP has fulfilled its promise made in the 2018 elections with education as its top priority. “We had promised an education policy and we brought it out well ahead of completion of one year in office. For over four decades the education department had to work without any policy or direction, but we have scripted a direction to move forward to ensure better educational facilities in Meghalaya,” he said.
He said that based on the education policy, the MDA government approached Ministry of Tribal Affairs and the state was allocated 11 Ekalavya Residential Model School (ERMS) out of 50 schools across India as they were well aware that Meghalaya is focusing to ensure better education facilities for its children.
He told the gathering in different locations that MDA government has been working to ensure that the promises made during the last election are fulfilled. “We are working for the future of Meghalaya and we will ensure that we are able to bring a transformation in the lives of our people,” he added.
He exuded confidence that if Agatha Sangma is elected as MP, she will take forward the initiative started by the MDA government and would voice Garo Hills’ concerns in the Parliament. “During my tenure as MP, I tried my best to ensure that welfare schemes for Meghalaya were sanctioned. However, as I was from a different party, it was difficult but I could manage. Now, almighty has given us an opportunity to elect an MP from the same party, so we should not miss the opportunity.”
