By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 3: In a pointed recollection of events from 2015, former Phulbari legislator SG Esmatur Mominin, also known as Rohibul Islam Sarkar, invoked the late PA Sangma to underline a “defining moment” when constitutional authority was placed above political pressure.
Mominin said the episode unfolded after Manirul Islam joined the National People’s Party (NPP) in 2015 and went on to win the Assembly election that year. He said Islam was subsequently given the party ticket to contest the MDC elections.
Many in the party opposed the decision, he said.
According to Mominin, two MLAs, four MDCs, former legislators, and party functionaries who had gathered at Sangma’s residence objected strongly to granting a ticket to a non-tribal candidate. NGOs, he said, were also vocal, demanding that non-tribal people should not be allowed to contest the ADC elections.
What followed, he recounted, was a tense and prolonged exchange at Sangma’s house. “There was a hue and cry. Objections were raised strongly,” Mominin said.
He added that Sangma listened without interruption before briefly stepping away and returning with a copy of the Constitution of India.
“He read out the provisions of the Sixth Schedule—who can contest and how the ADC system functions. He explained it clearly in Garo after reading it in English,” he said.
Mominin claimed that Sangma then made a firm declaration: that his own political standing—as an MP, former Lok Sabha Speaker, Union Minister, and national leader—was grounded in his respect for the Constitution. If the Constitution empowered him to nominate a candidate, tribal or non-tribal, he would exercise that authority. If not, he would resign.
“He said if I am not empowered to give a ticket to a non-tribal, then I am unfit to be an MP, and I will resign. I remember that clearly,” Mominin stated.
Linking that episode to the present, Mominin appealed for restraint and unity in the Garo Hills. He said tribal and non-tribal residents alike are inhabitants of the region and should not be divided by political contestation.
“We should not fight among ourselves. Unity is strength,” he said, urging people to follow what he described as Sangma’s constitutional approach.
