SHILLONG, March 27: Congress MLA from Umsning, Celestine Lyngdoh said the major achievement of the National People’s Party-led MDA regime was the emergence of the “high-level tribe”.
The new ‘tribe’ is an addition to the three major communities – Garo, Khasi and Jaintia – in Meghalaya, he said.
“This new high-level tribe has been allowed to prosper under the watch of the MDA 1.0 government,” Lyngdoh said while taking part in the discussion on the budget in the state Assembly on Monday.
He said the state police have lost face in front of the High Court of Meghalaya due to the ‘high-level tribe”.
The high court in its rulings available in the public domain said it has lost the trust in the Meghalaya police, the Congress MLA said.
“The high court directed that the CISF be brought to the state to check the activities of this new tribe. Is it because of the incapability of the state police that the CISF will be brought in,” he said.
Lyngdoh wondered if the state police force is at risk of losing its face for trying to adjust to all the impossible demands of the people in power.
He referred to the budget speech which says that the ultimate goal of all government interventions is the well-being and happiness of the citizens.
“I doubt whether our happiness will go up if we are being tagged as number one in corruption in the country. I am sure if the happiness indicators of our people can be improved, then we will have fewer ‘I Love You’. We read a few days ago that the brother of I Love You Tariang was involved in another crime,” Lyngdoh said.
Stating that he understands that government does not have to reply to every Tom, Dick and Harry when they make allegations, he pointed out that a ‘very important person’ in the country had marked Meghalaya as the most corrupt state.
“So, can we just ignore it? And that allegation is made not in a tea shop, or in any corner somewhere. This allegation was made in a big election rally where thousands of people were present. This really affects our image,” he said.
The allegation, he added, came from people who have popular one-liners such as “Na khaunga, na khaane doonga” (I will neither indulge in corruption nor allow anyone else to indulge in it).
Lyngdoh observed that the corrupt tag has affected the morale of the state’s students and people who are working outside Meghalaya.
“It has affected our image. Our children cannot show their faces. And ours happens to be a Christian state,” he said.
“These allegations are not unfounded. Where is the report on the Saubhagya scheme where Rs 149 crore is said to have been misappropriated? What about the smart meter scam?” he asked.
He also cited the seizure of 1 lakh bags of PDS rice meant for Meghalaya from a warehouse in Assam’s Boko.
