Cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh broke his silence today after being repeatedly targeted by the Voice of the People Party (VPP).
The VPP had demonstrated in Mawprem, part of Lyngdoh’s West Shillong constituency, recently against the MLA. Today Lyngdoh attacked the VPP for only coming fourth in the election yet still going hammer and tongs against him.
“How can the people come and protest here (Mawprem) when it was only in March that their candidate (from the VPP) stood fourth in the Assembly election?” the United Democratic Party (UDP) leader questioned. “When you stand fourth you should accept the mandate of the people because the people chose Paul Lyngdoh as their representative and if you want to protest and carry a placard as Prah (the VPP symbol) you should wait until 2028.”
He opined that one of the reasons for him being targeted is that Mawprem is close to Shillong North, the seat adjacent to his own. However, the same electioneering will not work in his multi-ethnic constituency, Lyngdoh said.
Referring to VPP leader Ardent Basaiawmoit’s seat in Nongkrem, the minister said, “In this area, the moment you talk of trading licences, the voters from Upper Mawprem and Mawbah are disturbed but I still did all that I had to do. If you talk about Nongkrem, you can growl as much as you want since it is surrounded by Khasi voters, except Madanrting.”
Criticising the VPP for its bombastic style of functioning and rousing of the people, Lyngdoh, who first became an MLA in the 2000s, said that there are those who work for the people without talking too much.
“The love for one’s state is no one’s monopoly… I have signed many files that favour our people and state but I don’t climb the Secretariat rooftop… because we work like mature people with responsibility,” he said.
The VPP has made a name for itself and captured the public imagination, whether for good or ill, over its campaign to reexamine the state’s job reservation policy, specifically the quotas allotted to Khasi-Jaintias and Garos.
While stating that the reservation policy is important, it is not the most important issue facing Meghalaya, the former student leader opined, adding that the VPP is playing a dangerous game by stoking communal tension.
Stating that there are 500 vacancies available with the government and government undertakings in a year and this is a dwindling sector in terms of employment, Lyngdoh said, “We have just a few more years before the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. We should talk more about sectors like tourism, weaving, village tourism, government-aided projects, where there are lots of opportunities.”
Other pressing matters are drug addiction, single mother families, child malnourishment, infant mortality rate and landlessness.
“These are the issues that concern us. But why don’t they draw crowds? Because they do not have that element of instigating hate and they are not populist. Hence they are not popular as issues,” Lyngdoh said.
‘Garos more politically mature than Khasis’
Cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh today praised the Garo people as being far more mature and politically astute compared to the Khasi people.
“A very candid observation is that the Garo people are far more mature and astute politically compared to us,” Lyngdoh told reporters today. “We made a lot of unnecessary noises about a lot of things but they have shown more wisdom and maturity.”
He justified his potentially controversial remark by pointing out that while there was much clamour for a Khasi Chief Minister after this year’s Assembly election, there was no such drive in Garo Hills. “But what they did was they put an end to all hopes of a Khasi Chief Minister by ensuring that out of 24 seats in the Garo Hills sector, 18 seats went to the NPP.”
All the “noise” made by the Khasis led to Garo voters consolidating their vote behind the NPP, Lyngdoh added.
