Meghalaya’s MPs in recent years have not done enough to raise issues of importance to the people in Parliament, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) has said.
VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh said that quality and not quantity is what matters on such a platform like Parliament.
Stating that unlike the state’s parliamentarians from the past, like GG Swell, PA Sangma, who really contributed to the national debate in the Lok Sabha, nowadays MPs are rarely seen taking part in issues debated or speaking in the house.
“When we send people who cannot debate and raise issues concerning our state in Parliament it is a great loss to the state,” Myrboh told Highland Post recently.
Pointing to NEIGRIHMS, he said the central government healthcare institute should have been upgraded long ago and it had been one of the renowned institutions in the region but the MPs did not pay enough attention to it. The same, the VPP spokesman added, goes with North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU), which had been a leading university in the past.
He also said that inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution could not be resolved to date because of the weakness of our parliamentary representatives.
“When Bodo and Manipuri languages have been included then how much does the Khasi language lag behind not to be recognised? We need people who can really raise all these kinds of issues in Parliament and the Union government and to penetrate there,” he added. “If we send efficient and hard working people, their performance will always show no matter the numbers but what can we say when nowadays we never hear them speak or make a substantive debate in Parliament.”
Myrboh rubbished the suggestion that, with only two MPs, Meghalaya cannot make much of an impact in a legislature with hundreds of members.
“We need to send hard working people of stature to Delhi who are really concerned to see the state grow and not someone who just goes there as time pass and seldom does anything,” he said. “Strength is not always based on numbers because if you send even one who is capable it will be more than enough to make your presence felt.”
