Conrad Sangma dismisses fears about Hindutva forces overshadowing tribal customs, says there’s nothing to be worried about.
New Delhi: Meghalaya’s new chief minister Conrad K. Sangma has said that he is not “too worried” about what is seen as the rise of “Hindutva” in the northeast and that he had decided to align with the BJP purely for practical reasons — to get adequate central assistance for his state.
Last month, the National People’s Party (NPP) led by Conrad Sangma — the son of former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma —ousted the Congress and formed a six-party coalition government which includes the BJP despite the latter winning only two seats.
This ensured the BJP is in power in six of the seven northeastern states with Mizoram being the only exception.
The two parties, however, were no strangers given their alliance in Manipur and NPP’s presence in the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance. However, the NPP did not forge any pre-poll pact with the BJP in Meghalaya, a Christian majority state, fearing it would hurt its vote share.
“We clearly maintained our individual ideologies and principles by making sure we fought elections on our own,” Sangma told ThePrint in an interview.
However, he sees governance as a separate issue. “They (BJP) are the party at the Centre and from the governance point of view, it makes sense to align with them and get central support in every way,” he added.
The BJP had highlighted development as its main agenda during its recent election campaign in the northeast and had avoided raking up Hindutva issues such as beef ban and cow slaughter, a part of its political strategy in the heartland states.
Asked about alleged attempts by Hindutva forces to rewrite history, the 40-year-old CM said there’s nothing to be worried about and that native customs and histories would not be affected. “My tribe has come out with their customary law and I’m encouraging every other tribe to do the same. I see a strong support from the Centre to encourage this kind of documentation to take place,” Sangma said.
His comments come in the wake of the controversy surrounding the Madhavpur mela in Porbandar, Gujarat, where the BJP government had celebrated Lord Krishna’s consort Rukmini’s Arunachal link.
“Anybody adding any religious colour is their choice but when it comes to our faith, ideology and principle, it is unshaken,” he said.
Sangma was in Delhi to discuss the newly launched North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme (NESIDS), for which the Centre has allocated Rs 5,300 crore in this year’s budget.
NESIDS will replace the non-lapsable central pool of resources as the Centre will be fully funding development projects in the northeast.
The Meghalaya rail network is one such key area that will improve connectivity between Assam and Meghalaya and boost industrial development. Work on the 22 km Teteliya (Assam)-Byrnihat (Meghalaya) line and Byrnihat–Shillong track (108 km) has been on since 2016.