Embroiled in ‘brothel’ row, ex-militant and BJP’s Garo Hills face Bernard Marak, CM Sangma’s bugbear

A militant-turned-politician, Marak, 47, had made headlines in July last year when he was arrested in connection with an alleged sex racket. The state police accused Marak of running a brothel on the outskirts of Tura town. He had been on the run after these allegations surfaced, but was soon arrested. He is currently out on bail.

Marak’s arrest brought the already-strained relationship between the two ruling allies, the NPP and BJP, to a flashpoint, with the saffron party alleging that Sangma was settling personal scores by arresting Marak.

Last month, the BJP decided to break away from the Sangma-led coalition, Meghalaya Democratic Alliance, to fight the elections to the 60-member Assembly on its own steam. Both the NPP and BJP are now contesting the polls separately.

In its campaign, the BJP has made Marak’s “unlawful” arrest a key poll issue. Last month, BJP national general secretary in charge of organisation BL Santosh, while launching the party’s election campaign, said Marak was “victimised”. He likened Marak’s arrest to the “Congress sending (Union Home Minister) Amit Shah to jail”. “But see where Amit Shah is now and where those who framed him are. Whoever tried to malign Marak will be taught the same lesson,” Santosh said.

Marak, a former member of the proscribed Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) — a militant outfit fighting for a separate state for the Garo tribe — joined the BJP ahead of the 2018 Assembly elections. He, however, left the party soon in protest against the BJP-led Centre’s now-withdrawn notification banning the sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets. His protest and subsequent resignation from the BJP on the issue brought Marak in the spotlight, raising his political profile in the Garo Hills.

In the ensuing polls, Marak contested from the South Tura seat on the Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s ticket against Conrad’s younger sister Agatha Sangma (now Lok Sabha MP), but finished a distant sixth. In 2019, he returned to the BJP fold, following which he was elected to the Garo Hills Development Council.

A computer graduate from Guwahati, Marak, the son of a forest official, started his “career” in the ANVC. But soon, he broke ranks with his mentor Dilash Marak and floated a splinter group, ANVC-B, in 2011.

Bernard Marak, or “Ada (big brother) Rimpu” as he is popularly known, was an independent signatory to the peace agreement the Centre signed in 2014 with the ANVC.

In the past few years, Marak, a fierce advocate of tribal issues, has often targeted the state government, especially the Sangmas, Conrad and Agatha, alleging misappropriation of funds through “ghost projects” in their constituencies.

In the run-up to the upcoming polls, Marak has led a strident campaign, backed by the BJP, against the Sangma dispensation. Some Tura locals say that there has been a rise in public “sympathy” for him in his belt, especially after what many consider was his “unlawful arrest” last year.