SHILLONG, March 24: The Voice of the People Party on Sunday stated that the Congress has been reduced to almost a non-entity in Meghalaya after the treacherous actions of helping the NPP and the Hindutva forces to grow strong in the state. It also attacked the NPP for being “an ideologically corrupt and confused party” which is surviving on the power of money.
Stating that the decision of the BJP and the NPP to work together in Meghalaya and elsewhere does not surprise anyone as they are natural allies, VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh said, “It may be recollected that (L) Purno Sangma contested the Presidential election in 2012 with the backing of the BJP. Since then there has been close relations between the BJP and the NPP including on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act”.
Pointing out that the present decision taken by the two parties reveals two things, he said, “First, the BJP is unsure to win the national election on its own and therefore, it needs more allies no matter how small they are. Second, the NPP needs big funding from the BJP for this election. The party might have exhausted its fund during the last Assembly election in Meghalaya and elsewhere.”
He said the NPP in Meghalaya stands benefitted from this arrangement on two counts. “The party would get much-needed funds to spend during the election. NPP is aware that that those who vote for it do not vote for anything else but for money and undue privileges that power brings in and therefore needs constant pumping of money to stay in power. Also, it hopes that the BJP voters would vote for the NPP,” he said.
According to him, the NPP-BJP combine strongly hopes that a section of the population opposing their alliance including those who support the VPP would be petrified and see the Congress as the alternative.
“In this way, the rational and secular votes would be divided between VPP and Congress; thereby the Hindutva forces would win easily. The electorate of the prestigious Shillong Parliamentary seat should be able to read the mind of the Hindutva forces,” he added.
“There is an urgent need that the electorate should rally behind the VPP which is the only force to defeat the divisive forces,” he stressed.
“It is everyone’s knowledge that the Congress is almost a non- entity in the state after the treacherous actions of the Congress candidate helping the NPP and the Hindutva forces to grow strong in the State. Any vote given to the Congress is not only wastage but an indirect help to the NPP-BJP Hindutva alliance,” he added.
The VPP leader also held the Congress responsible for the non-inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule, non-implementation of the Inner Line Permit and the implementation of the CAA.
Stating that the statement by the State Congress Chief and the MP candidate that the VPP is ideologically akin to the BJP stems from his complete lack of knowledge of what his own party and the BJP stands for, Myrboh said, “Before making weird allegation, it is advisable that he should re-introspect what his own party has been doing. I would like to advise him to read what has been written by Ajaz Ashraf (2016), Milind Ghatwai (2023), Ajay K. Mehra (2023) and others.”
“In these articles, the Congress is shown to be following a soft Hindutva politics. These two parties differ in terms of degree not in form. It has been a fact that the Congress though theoretically proclaims from time to time that it stands for pluralism, yet when it comes to issues relating to ethnic minorities it is proven otherwise,” he added.
He pointed out that the Congress had been in the government both at the Centre and the State for a long time, yet they refused to include the Khasi language and many other tribal languages in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.
Further, he said, the Congress has been responsible for the non-implementation of ILP in the state.
“In 2013-14, the Congress government at the Centre and the State stood tooth and nail against the demand of the people of the state for ILP,” he said.
The VPP spokesperson also said, “It is because of the Congress that Meghalaya has to face the imminent negative consequences of the implementation of the CAA.”
Stating that the exemption of the Sixth Schedule areas of the state is bereft of any meaning without putting the ILP in place, he said, “India’s pluralism is best preserved by the regional political parties. It is a known fact that multilingualism in India was possible because of the strong stand of the Tamils in the 1960s.”
