Tura, Nov 4: The surprise wasn’t in the news. It was the venue. A single powerful voice representing the northeast had been anticipated. Except that the announcement didn’t come from the walls of Guwahati, Shillong or the Ujjayanta palace in Agartala.
The battle was taken to the gates of New Delhi- the heart of the nation’s political capital.
When Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma took to the dais at the Constitution Club of India alongside Tripura Motha chief Pradyot Manikya, he opened up a political tsunami across the region.
For the first time, a political party that is aligned with the ruling dispensation in New Delhi was moving house to establish itself as an alternative voice for the millions of tribal people representing this unique multilingual and multi-cultural corner of the country.
While there is little doubt over the political alignment the new equation intends to join, the biggest take away appears to be the response and the post scenario that plays out.
For decades, the oldest political party- Indian National Congress held sway over the region and they were gradually replaced by regional satraps and parties that claimed to be fighting for “tribal identity” and “protection”.
From the AGP in Assam- that once ruled the state at a time of controversial decisions during the ULFA insurgency days, to the regional UDP in Meghalaya that always had a seat at whosoever was at the head of the ruling table, regional voice has always had a mark in the Northeast.
Even at the peak of Congress power that ruled Mizoram for over three decades, beginning in the 1980s and through to the 2000s, the regional voice managed to survive the political drowning. The most noticeable example being the Mizo National Front- that transformed from a rebel to a political force in Mizoram. Despite his best efforts, five time Congress chief minister of Mizoram, Lal Thanhawla, tried and failed in his attempt to erase regionalism.
And after Lal Thanhawla it was MNF’s Zoramthanga, alongside other regional leaders such as AGP’s Prafulla Mahanta in Assam, and more recent Nagaland’s Neiphiu Rio, that proved people in the north east were still yearning for a voice that came from within themselves- not from New Delhi.
It’s no wonder the BJP has tried and failed to gain a foothold in the northeast- having to piggy ride on the back of regional forces.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, who happens to be in the good books of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led alliance NDA in New Delhi for his developmental mantra is a witness to this scenario, which is why he is better placed than anyone else to lead the new political dispensation that seeks a powerful voice and identity for the Northeast in the most powerful corridors of power.
