For Denis Lyngkhoi Meghalaya’s annual anniversary of statehood is not an abstract thing, he was part and parcel of the struggle to carve out the Khasi-Jaintia and Garo Hills out of Assam in 1972.
A volunteer in the fight, Lyngkhoi spent three months in jail in Guwahati during the campaign for statehood.
Today, like others young and old, he cast his ballot in Mawlai Nongkwar.
But, having celebrated 51 years of statehood last month, Meghalaya has not had an unblemished record and Lyngkhoi is particularly disappointed in its politicians, who jump from ship to ship.
Speaking to Highland Post, he said, “All I want to say is that past governments are gone but we hope that the new government that will come will be transparent and clear and works for the poor and underprivileged.”
What irritates him is that the legislators who campaign on a particular party platform have no qualms in ditching that party midway through their term.
“The HSPDP fought for full statehood for Meghalaya but from the total of 18 legislators, only one stuck to the party until he breathed his last,” he lamented, referring to Hopingstone Lyngdoh, the party’s late patriarch.
