RONGJENG, Jan 28: Opposition leader and Trinamool Congress stalwart, Mukul Sangma, on Saturday afternoon hit out at the NPP and its allies for denying knowledge to children in the state due to the government not recruiting teachers in schools leading to their closure and thousands without education.
He made the statement during a discussion while campaigning for the Rongjeng candidate of the party, Sengnam M Marak. Marak is a former MLA of the constituency and was in the village of Rongchek Akong to garner support for his candidature for the upcoming elections.
Mukul, who came on a helicopter, had earlier touched down at Mawshynrut in West Khasi Hills and Phulbari in the plain belt in West Garo Hills before coming to the village in East Garo Hills to speak on behalf of his party member in the lead up to voting. He was greeted by a crowd of close to 1,000 in the remote hamlet.
“This is the only state in the country where once a teacher retires, there is no recruitment done. This has led to closure of schools and children being left without an education. The children for whom we have promised to provide quality education have been deprived. This is despite the overall constitutional obligation and the law that has been passed – the right to education. Do you think these kinds of vested people can be given the responsibility to lead the state in the future as well,” asked Mukul.
He added that the move of the NPP-led government to shun recruitment was not only unethical and illegal but also unconstitutional.
Earlier during the meeting, the TMC leader stated that he had contacted the government on the issue of recruitment of teachers and was told that it would only be undertaken when all recruitment was complete. When he asked for a temporary solution to ensure children were not deprived of education, the only answer, he said he received, was that it would only be undertaken after all recruitment was completed.
“Is this a joke to them? This is the future of our children that we are talking of. Will recruitment not take time? We have seen that this government has not been keen to fill up posts that are already there in the state and this has brought children out of schools. Are these the people you are looking to vote for,” he asked those present.
The small village is one of the remotest parts of the state and Mukul admitted that it was the first time that he had paid a visit, though he had tried once earlier but failed as the chopper developed technical snag in the run up to the 2018 polls.
Countering the claims of the NPP, who called the promises by the TMC, ‘We Card’ and ‘MYE Card’ as baaki (credit) cards, Mukul stated that it just showed their (NPP’s) mindset.
“Their priorities don’t reflect the larger interests of the state. Democracy states that when a political party makes a pledge or promise in an election manifesto, it becomes binding on the part of the political party, if it receives the mandate of the people, to implement and fulfill these promises and pledges.
That is the spirit of democracy. These are based on our understanding of governance and its associated challenges. If they want to know how we are going to do it, they should come and join our political party,” said Mukul, who claims that the the support for TMC is palpable everywhere which will hold them in good stead.
Earlier speaking at the gathering, Sengnam stated that most of the development in Rongjeng had been initiated by the then Congress-led Mukul Sangma government and he would work on ensuring this development returns to the constituency if the people put their trust in him once again.
