Tura, July 27: Three days after a mob laid siege to the CM’s Secretariat and unleashed a deadly spell of violence in Tura, Meghalaya BJP vice president and Tura MDC, Bernard N. Marak on Thursday claimed that the NPP-led MDA 2.0 Government was on a “witch-hunt” to decimate its political opponents.
“Taking advantage of the violence that was started by certain individuals, a ‘witch-hunt’ of their (NPP’s) political rivals has begun. No political parties were involved in the movement but all those arrested have been listed as BJP or TMC workers. It is unfortunate that even those who were not involved in the meeting are being arrested,” he added.
Bernard claimed that every individual who had filed RTIs against the government, revealed anomalies, or spoke about wrongdoings were listed as instigators of the violence.
“The claim that an attempt was made on the CM is a wild accusation for which the police should be blamed as it was a security failure. The CM should be grateful to these people because they made him a king and they expected an assurance from him that they will not be betrayed as was done in the past by other leaders. He failed to understand the sentiments of the people gathered there,” felt Bernard.
He added that the mass arrests revealed insecurity among the political leaders as people are awakening and raising voices against those leaders who are not doing enough for the Garo Hills region.
He further added that two women who were picked up after sunset by male officers were volunteers of ACHIK – the group spearheading the movement. They were branded by the police as BJP Mahila Morcha members and instigators.
Bernard questioned the motives of the police and the government for exposing them as BJP members.
“Should not the Women’s Commission take up this matter on how they treated Garo women against the restriction laid by the Court? BJP leaders are targeted and are being arrested for no rhyme and reason. It is a political conspiracy and the CM must refrain from doing injustice to the innocent people of Garo Hills and giving police a free hand to nail just anybody,” the BJP spokesperson said.
A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ meeting extended to three hours and it was followed by the lack of communication on the developments in the meeting to the people waiting outside which triggered the violence.
“Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma avoided the main issues of Winter Capital and backlog for Garos and diverted the whole incident into his favour showing to the world that he was targeted by Garo groups. Mass arrest is a conspiracy against all those who raised voice against corruption. Wrongly highlighting the Garo community as those who attacked him is a betrayal to the community who made him a king,” Bernard said in a statement.
He added that the violence was caused by only a handful of people and they could have been arrested on the spot.
“The world now sees Garos as uncivilised, rude and a wild community which is sad as we have evolved into one of the most peace-loving communities. Last year, the mass arrest made on pretext of hunting me showed how our youths were dragged down to the level of being branded as prostitutes. We knew we would be betrayed again and they would add political colour to the demands of the people,” he added.
