Only if regional parties in Meghalaya unite under one banner can they stop playing second fiddle to national outfits and lead the state themselves, senior figure of the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), Thomas Passah, has told Highland Post.
Despite being a small state, Meghalaya has a host of regional parties with largely the same message chasing the same votes. At the last state Assembly election in 2018 only two – the United Democratic Party (UDP) and Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) – had a pre-poll agreement. Besides the inter-party disunity, there are occasions of intra-party conflict as well, as with KHNAM, the control of which is disputed between two factions.
“We truly believe that all regional parties should come together as one single political party that will help the growth of the regional force and all regional issues can be addressed,” Passah told HP today.
Stating that as the election draws closer, every political party is portraying itself as the only party that the people should vote for, he said that regional political parties have only been supporting actors to larger national parties who take the centre stage.
The only time that Meghalaya saw a strong, ruling regional force was when these like-minded groups fought for statehood.
“The influence of money during the elections has become a dangerous trend and a concern for Meghalaya. The political scenario is now dominated by businessmen and the policymakers have been replaced by the self-interested and profit makers,” he said. “It is not politics that is dirty but some self-interested people who dominate the political scene. For this reason, the citizens of the state should participate in the electoral process and bring in clean politics and take the state to greater glory.”
