SHILLONG, Feb 19: BJP’s top poll strategist in the Northeast and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s pointed attack on Chief Minister and NPP supremo Conrad Sangma at an election rally here on Sunday virtually suggests that the BJP-NPP divorce has been finalised in Meghalaya.
Known to be close to each other, the high-voltage electioneering in the state has definitely widened the rift between the two allies of the MDA.
Sarma announced at a rally in Keating Road that time was up for the NPP and “backward” Meghalaya can progress only if people of the state rally behind PM Narendra Modi.
“The response in favour of the BJP is immense and going by the number of people that showed up in the various rallies and the increasing support base for the party, it is clear that this time BJP will win the maximum number of seats in Garo Hills and not NPP or TMC,” the Assam CM said.
Making it clear that whatever development has been seen in the state is because of the Centre, Himanta asked the public if Conrad Sangma or Mukul Sangma can claim they have done things on their own.
“In the name of road there are highways but the arterial roads are not there…no drinking water. You all know the conditions of the hospitals, vanishing medical colleges and poor condition of education. We need to take Meghalaya towards development,” he said.
Highlighting that the state lacks in development in all spheres despite getting all the support from the Centre, Sarma referred to BJP ruled states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur which are progressing at a faster pace than Meghalaya.
“We have a commitment to have a medical college in each district of Assam. Work on 25 medical colleges has started and 10 have already opened. 25 medical colleges mean 3,500 seats will be available for our kids and they do not have to go to Madras or Bangalore to study; instead students from there will come to Assam,” he asserted.
Stating that Manipur which is not bigger than Meghalaya has four medical colleges, Sarma said the central government gave money for Shillong and Tura medical colleges and “without blaming anyone for eating up the money the truth remains that till date there is no medical college in either Shillong or Tura”.
Questioning where all the money pumped in by the Centre for development has vanished, Sarma said the state does not even give the 7th pay commission benefits to its employees.
He was particularly critical of the politicians who shift base from one party to another.
“For example, politicians like Ampareen (Lyngdoh) contest from Congress and then join NPP. They are themselves ‘unstable’. How will they give stability to Meghalaya and provide guidance if they are unsure about themselves,” Sarma said.
“Politicians in Meghalaya want to come to power in some way or the other but since they can do nothing for the state, they jump to another party,” he said.
“Mukul is on a ride and also taking the people of the state for a ride. Last elections he asked the people to vote for the ‘hand’ symbol and this time it is the ‘flower’ symbol of the TMC and in the next election it will be another symbol,” the Assam CM said.
“They are unstable and they know they cannot do anything until and unless they align with PM Modi. They may win but cannot develop Meghalaya,” he said.
At another event, where he released the vision document of the BJP for North Shillong constituency, Sarma challenged Mukul to compete with him.
“I want Dr Mukul Sangma to say if Himanta builds 10 medical colleges then I will build 20. Take that challenge and then people will benefit. If Conrad K Sangma and Dr Mukul fight with me and say they want to work more for Meghalaya then it will be a great thing for the people of the state,” the Assam CM said.
He also attacked the NPP for being unable to host the National Games.
“It pains me when the National Games goes to Gujarat. There is no apology and no one is taking responsibility. This is the fate of Meghalaya. Lack of initiative on the part of political leaders is failing the Meghalaya,” he said.
“In this election, if Meghalaya can produce a result which will create a shock wave among the established leadership of Meghalaya then next time everybody will try to work and they will start the politics of development,” Sarma said, asserting that the next CM of Meghalaya will be from the BJP.
Referring to the controversy arising out of a letter seeking information about churches and Christians in Assam, Sarma dismissed the same as fake.
“When election campaign started in Meghalaya, I got a call from party national general secretary Rituraj Sinha asking me if I had issued some letter which is being circulated in Meghalaya,” Sarma recalled, adding: “After I inquired from the DGP I found that it is a fake letter. You may recall that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Pope Francis and invited him to visit India. Can I go against my Prime Minister?” he asked.
“Our Christian community is numerically larger in Assam than Meghalaya because we have a solid Christian population base which is around 7% of the total population of the state. Out of four crore, 28 lakh people in Assam are Christians,” the Assam CM said, adding that they have six to seven MLAs in Assam who are Christians.
According to him, there is a BJP government in Assam since 2016 and he has not heard of any incident which has affected the religious sentiments of Christian people in his state.
“However, every time when there are elections in Meghalaya you will hear these kinds of stories. When election is over, for the next four years and nine months there are no atrocities on Christians anywhere. After February 27, you will not see any such letter being circulated from Assam or Gujarat,” he said.
