State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Mariahom Kharkrang today rejected the allegation that it has been appointing only its supporters to governing positions in central institutions in order to saffronise them.
A claim to this extent was recently made by state Congress MLA Ronnie V Lyngdoh, who was referring to the ongoing crisis in North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), which he said began when the BJP tried to promote its ideology.
Kharkhrang termed these as “wild and baseless” allegations. He added that it is the BJP-ruled central government that has appointed a fact finding team to understand what is going on there. The university was thrown into turmoil after strident opposition to the Vice-Chancellor, PS Shukla, who has now gone on leave.
“As for the party itself, we have taken up the issue. Our leader [Alexander Laloo] Hek has taken up the issue with Delhi and, probably shortly, you might find us going with the delegation to Delhi for the NEHU issue,” added Kharkhrang.
Hek was known to have been lobbying the central government in 2021 for an indigenous Vice-Chancellor to replace the unpopular SK Srivastava. Despite his standing within the BJP, Hek’s efforts came to nothing and Shukla was appointed. While faculty and students were willing to give Shukla the benefit of the doubt when he took charge, disillusionment rapidly set in.
It is widely believed that Shukla is very pro-BJP. However, Kharkrang said that the central government considers candidates for more important reasons, such as their efficiency and qualifications.
“If this (all the negative goings-on) is happening in NEHU, then it’s not a good sign but, definitely, the central government will take action and ensure that NEHU comes back to what it was in the earlier days,” he said.
