From Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, July 18: RSS ideologue and former Rajya Sabha member, Rakesh Sinha on Thursday recalled the BJP-led government’s all-round contributions to the landlocked Northeastern region, especially Meghalaya, and said that this has ended the decades-long feeling of isolation of its people and brought them to the national mainstream.
“Let us work together because the Modi government is dedicated to the development of Meghalaya,” the BJP leader who had brought the little-known Kongthong village to national and international focus.
“We should all come out from the isolationist mentality and all the stakeholders should also get optimum opportunity to present their views,” he said in a statement, indirectly hinting at the ongoing impasse over eviction of labourers from outside the state by pressure groups.
Sinha demanded that there should be a Khasi Literacy Board considering the rich heritage of Khasi as an Austro-Asiatic language. The valued dialect is spoken by thousands of Khasi tribals not only in Meghalaya, but also in Assam, other Northeastern states and even neighbouring Bangladesh, he said.
The state’s youth work in diverse fields from engineering to medical and from hotels to the hospitality sector in different parts of the country, the former MP, whose tenure in the Rajya Sabha ended on July 13, reminded.
Serious issues like education, employment, poverty eradication, stopping illegal rat-hole mining, deforestation and natural calamities should be the issues for the state, he added.