The BJP has two MLAs supporting the NPP-led MDA Government in Meghalaya. Like the other coalition partners, namely the UDP, HSPDP, PDF and NCP the BJP too will by association face anti-incumbency in Meghalaya. Surprisingly, the two BJP MLAs don’t seem too worried as they believe they will be elected, no matter what the circumstances. This has made them laid back. The two MLAs have said nothing on illegal mining and transportation of schemes. At one time the BJP’ state president had raised issues on the different scams that had surfaced like the smart meter scam, rice scam among others. He was soon silenced by being given political appointments with perks etc. And that essentially is the problem of the BJP in Meghalaya. While the central leadership harps on development and clean governance and the Prime Minister works overtime to ensure that benefits from the different schemes reach the people, the BJP in Meghalaya is not connected to the people. In fact, the Party is far removed from the people and their problems.
The South Shillong MLA cares only about his constituency and is not bothered about Meghalaya’s poor development indices. Poverty is growing and the health indices are nothing to write home about. Pynthorumkhrah MLA, AL Hek started to raise Cain and lost his ministerial position but not his perks because he was soon appointed Advisor to the Chief Minister a post held by many political heavyweights. The only BJP leader takes his Party position seriously is Bernard Marak, the BJP MDC from Garo Hills. He has been questioning the manner in which central schemes are implemented as they have not reached the targeted beneficiaries even while the MDA Government is taking mileage from the schemes.
In the past the BJP party members had expressed their disenchantment against their Party President, Ernest Mawrie but that too has died down. While other political parties have geared up for the elections scheduled for February 2023 and many have left their original parties to join a new party or an existing one, no one so far has shown any inclination to join the BJP. On the contrary, the BJP seems to have lost whatever foothold it had in the past in Meghalaya. While BJP-ruled states in the North East like Manipur, Tripura and Assam have made great strides as far as development is concerned, Meghalaya, a BJP coalition partner, remains a laggard in this aspect. Some of the contentious problems such as poor road communication remain unresolved. The BJP has no road-map to solving any problem in Meghalaya. It has not submitted a single policy paper to the Government. Is Prime Minister Modi even bothered about this land of clouds?
