Shillong, Sep 24 (PTI) A day after eight UDP MLAs of Meghalaya joined the BJP, the Khasi Jaintia Christian Leaders’ Forum on Thursday accused the legislators of “betraying” the electorate and putting the pursuit of power ahead of their responsibility towards voters.
The eight MLAs joined the saffron party in New Delhi on Wednesday, taking the party’s strength in the 60-member Assembly from two to 10, while the United Democratic Party’s tally fell from 12 to four.
In a statement, forum secretary Rev Edwin Kharkongor said there was a distinction between an individual or a group voluntarily joining a political party and elected legislators crossing over to a party from which they had not contested the election.
“When an individual or a group of individuals join a political party, we have nothing to say. However, when MLAs cross over to join another party from which they were not voted in the beginning, that is a tragic betrayal of the electorate,” Kharkongor said.
He alleged that the move reflected an “obsessive lust for power and profitable self-gratification” rather than a desire to contribute to good governance and advance the common good of the electorate and the state.
The forum also criticised the BJP over its alleged majoritarian politics and what it described as the party’s “supportive silences” on issues including ethnic violence in Manipur and attacks against Christians and other minority communities.
It alleged that while the BJP had introduced economic and welfare schemes, its political agenda included “One Nation, One Language, One Religion” and other strategies which, according to the forum, threatened the diversity and existence of indigenous and minority communities.
On Meghalaya, the forum alleged that the BJP had exercised influence in the state despite having only two MLAs before the latest political development.
The forum said the entry of the eight legislators had given the BJP a “false and fake sense of legitimacy” and accused the MLAs of compromising their political and moral values for “seduction and enticement”.
“For X pieces of silver and a fleeting glitter on an alien platform, these MLAs have violated the trust of the electorate at home,” Kharkongor said.
He said it was now for voters in the constituencies represented by the eight legislators to express their political response.
“Only time will tell,” he said. PTI JOP MNB
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