USTM director was threatened, Pala claims
SHILLONG/NONGPOH, Jan 23: The denial of permission by the Ri-Bhoi district administration to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to hold an interactive session with the students of the USTM on Tuesday has stoked controversy in Meghalaya.
State Congress president Vincent H Pala slammed the NPP-led MDA 2.0 Government for being “spineless” and “working at the behest of some leaders” in New Delhi and Assam.
He said that the denial of permission to hold a non-political session with students was unfortunate and clearly shows that the Meghalaya government is being controlled by the BJP and the leaders of Assam.
“They don’t want Rahul Gandhi to connect and interact with the people and Meghalaya is the only state in the country which did not let Rahul Gandhi hold a simple interactive session with students,” Pala said.
He also came down heavily on the government for allowing a “Jai Shree Ram team from Guwahati” to march till Byrnihat. “It is not even known if they had sought permission for the same,” he said.
Asserting that the USTM director was threatened many a time, Pala said the party wanted to hold the session at the university as it can accommodate some 3,000 people in its hall.
He said the Meghalaya government gave silly reasons to deny permission. If a university agrees, there is no issue at all to hold a non-political programme, especially when the model code of conduct is yet to be enforced, he pointed out.
“This only makes it clear that any vote for non-Congress parties like UDP and NPP is a vote for the BJP and this (the permission issue) also shows that BJP is scared of Rahul Gandhi,” he said.
Pala asserted that the huge success of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Meghalaya only shows that if the party can work cohesively for the elections, people would extend their support to the Congress.
“The success of the Yatra also shows Meghalaya is ready for Congress and it will always be with Congress,” he said.
Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma distanced himself from the controversy, saying the matter was dealt with at the level of the deputy commissioner concerned.
Citing documents he received, he said Congress never sought any permission and never submitted a no-objection certificate either from the USTM or from the local headman, which is a basic requirement for any programme.
Union Home minister ‘stopped’ interactions at USTM: Gandhi
Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that he was “not allowed” to interact with students of USTM in Meghalaya as part of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at the “instructions” of the Union Home Minister.
The directive to the varsity authorities was conveyed by the Union Home Minister through the Assam Chief Minister’s office, he claimed.
“I wanted to come to your university and address you, listen to you, understand what you are facing. But what happened is that the Home minister of India called up the Chief Minister of Assam and the CMO called up the leadership of the university and said that Rahul Gandhi must not be allowed to speak to the students,” Gandhi said, addressing students and others from atop his Yatra bus in the Assam-Meghalaya border.
Following the cancellation of the event at USTM, the Congress convened a meeting of the North East Congress Coordination Committee (NECCC) at a hotel in Jorabat that was attended by top leaders like Jairam Ramesh, Gaurav Gogoi, Vincent H Pala, Kanhaiya Kumar, and others.
During the meeting, MPCC proposed the inclusion of farmers’ difficulties in the Congress manifesto. Gandhi assured that a party team would carefully consider these suggestions.
The discussion also addressed the ongoing conflict in Manipur, prompting the decision for a NECCC team to visit the troubled state.