SHILLONG, Feb 3: NPP national president and Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma launched an all-out attack on Opposition leader Mukul M Sangma calling him ‘a weak leader’ for his alleged use of brutal force against the citizens to get things done rather than listening to them and taking along everyone during his tenure.
Conrad said these words at an election meeting in Jowai to garner support for NPP’s sitting legislator from Jowai, Wailadmiki Shylla.
“I have something to say against the opposition parties which point fingers at us and say that NPP is weak. May be during their time, they have used guns, used police and brutal force against the people. If on the basis of that, they call themselves strong, I disagree with them,” said the chief minister.
He said, “It is easy to use force and ask them to fire at innocent people but it is not easy to speak to people and engage with them. I have some advice for them. Carry people along and move forward.”
He continued, “I dare to say, if there was somebody weak it was Mukul Sangma. During his time, he resorted to the use of brutal force to subjugate any opposition. It is not a sign of leadership.”
He further said a leader should care for his people. “As a leader, you love your people; you don’t harm them by using force. In the last five years, whenever there was a situation where we had to face difficult challenges, we never used the police force. Instead, we have chosen the path of peace and dialogue to find a solution to different problems,” Conrad said.
Responding to his critics, who have called him weak, Conrad said, “Let me explain to those critics, there is a difference between being weak and being soft. We listen to our people and believe in solution through dialogue. That does not mean that we are weak.”
The chief minister pointed out that his government’s soft stance should not be mistaken as a weakness.
Conrad also took a jibe at TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee recalling her earlier statement that West Bengal has its own party and it did not need other national parties to tell how to rule the state.
“By the same principle, TMC is also an outsider in Meghalaya. The people of Meghalaya know how to take care of themselves,” he said adding the same principle and the same analogy apply to Meghalaya.
He also reminded that people in TMC are the same people, who were given eight years to rule Meghalaya, but they were not able to take things forward.
The NPP chief further predicted that TMC will not get more than 2-3 seats in the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
He also told the people of Jowai that NPP will return with an absolute majority and urged them not to waste their vote on TMC, which has no future in the state.
