TURA/ SHILLONG, July 25: In what can become the flashpoint of politics in Meghalaya, TMC youth leader Richard M. Marak, who had contested the Assembly polls against Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly distributing cash to people who laid siege to the CM’s Secretariat, pelted stones and destroyed as many as 21 vehicles, including five from the CM’s convoy, on Monday.
In a press conference held by Director-General of Police, Lajja Ram Bishnoi in Shillong on Tuesday, the reason for Marak’s arrest has been attributed to incitement and distribution of cash to protestors to carry on the violence.
Police identified 26 people who were indulging in violence and later arrested 21 people, including 13 TMC workers and eight BJP workers, including two mahila morcha leaders, Bellina M Marak (32) and Dilche Ch Marak (40).
There is, however, no clarity from police on how the party affiliations were construed or why they were even mentioned. The list of arrested persons along with the party affiliation was allegedly released by the West Garo Hills SP, almost four hours prior to the DGP’s press conference in Shillong.
However, the arrest of a hardcore NPP worker — Jackson A. Sangma — who was part of the meeting between the CM and the two groups (ACHIK and GHSMC) by West Garo Hills Police for allegedly inciting the mob, has brought about a significant twist in the tale.
Jackson, a resident of Nikwatgre in the Dakopgre locality in Tura, was seen as part of the group that went into conversation on the demand for a Winter Capital and clearance of backlog in jobs for the Garo community. As to how he was part of the meeting remains a mystery as the protest organisers failed to identify if he was indeed a part of the group that had met the CM.
He, however, left the meeting halfway and began to mingle with the crowd of supporters waiting outside. At some point in time, he began to question the hunger strikers and their objectives, expressing to those around him that they could not be on fast for 14 days and still walk without support.
A video of his inciting the crowd has gone viral since the morning where the conversation that he had went like this:
“Jackson: ‘He pretends to be weak to the crowd when he was lying here but doesn’t feel weak to walk over there’?
2nd person: ‘Does he think we do not know that he has had his meal (rice) and is only pretending to be weak while he was lying here’?
3rd person: ‘We will dismantle all these structures today. We will not even allow them to continue’.
In the background: They should not have gone inside”.
Meanwhile, West Garo Hills Police has said that the administration will continue to nab all the miscreants who used terror for narrow political gains.
“Some such miscreants have been identified and are on the run from the law,” a statement in this regard said, while announcing a cash reward of Rs 10,000 to any person who provides information to the magistrates or the police officials of the whereabouts of the key instigators.
“The identity of the person giving the information will be kept secret,” the notification said.
