Mukul Sangma rejects BJP agenda

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Senior AICC leader and former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Monday pooh-poohed the ruling BJP’s development agenda saying that majority of development projects for the region under Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) and North Eastern Council (NEC) have been put on hold without any plausible reason. Sangma told reporters here on Monday evening that on the pretext of framing new guidelines the Centre has put all NLCPR and NEC schemes on hold without fixing any time frame. He said such holding of schemes has almost brought development in the North East to a standstill.

“But the BJP is still talking of development. The people of the region has now understood the saffron party’s real agenda which is anti-people but not development at all,” Sangma, one of the most vocal AICC leader who was in the city to hold discussions with various stakeholders and citizens to take their feedbacks to prepare the Congress’s 2019 election manifesto for North East, said.

Terming the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (earlier as 2016) as nothing but a tool of the RSS and BJP to fulfill their hidden communal agendas, Sangma said recent opposition against the Bill by the present Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma was a tamasha (drama) to hoodwink the people. “Has the Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Meghalaya CM on the issue of the Bill?,” he said.

Sangma also questioned the claim of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal that he will never let anything to happen to harm the interest of indigenous people. “Will PM Modi listen to Sonowal to keep the latter’s claim?,” he said. He accused the BJP of bringing Bangladeshis by giving them work permits and ensuring their permanent stay in India by granting citizenship through the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Accusing the ruling NPP-BJP government at Meghalaya of illegally opening all coal mines within six months of its regime, Sangma alleged that ministers and bureaucrats were enjoying holidays when poor labourers were trapped inside a mine. He said rescue operation was carried out only after the Supreme Court’s directive.

Sangma who is one of the members of the AICC manifesto preparation committee for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, on Monday held discussions with people from different walks of life to take their feedbacks on real issues concerning Assam and other parts of NE.

Also Read: Meghalaya News