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Journalism of Courage
Living up to its promise, the small regional outfit United Democratic Party (UDP) looked set to emerge as the second largest party in the Meghalaya Assembly after the results were declared Thursday.
A part of the ruling Meghalaya Development Alliance coalition, including the National People’s Party (which was set to emerge as the single largest) and BJP, the UDP had contested separately like its other partners. It was headed to win 11 seats, nearly double its tally of 6 last time and far ahead of other non-NPP parties.
In what drew some curiosity, in the days leading up to the election, five MLAs from different parties, including a minister, had joined the UDP. However, the party has always been a serious player in the state.
One of the defecting MLAs, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar, who was the Public Health Engineering Minister, had told reporters that the UDP would “emerge as a major regional force in the coming Assembly polls”, while emphasising the need for a “regional” party fighting for the aspirations of jaitbynriew (Khasi-Jaintia tribes) to helm Meghalaya.
Formed in 1997, the UDP is an offshoot of the first regional party of the state, the All Party Hill Leaders’ Conference (APHLC), which was born out of the Meghalaya statehood movement. Since then, the UDP has enjoyed two stints in power, although both were short-lived.
The UDP first came to power in its maiden elections in 1998, when it bagged 20 seats out of 60, with the Congress winning 24. Based on a post-poll agreement with the Congress, UDP founder E K Mawlong became Meghalaya’s chief minister in 2000.
He had to step down in 2001, after getting embroiled in a controversy regarding the reconstruction of the Meghalaya House in Kolkata. In 2008, as part of the ruling Meghalaya Progressive Alliance coalition along with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), UDP president Dr Donkupar Roy was named chief minister, though this government too, collapsed soon after.
In 2018, the party 6 six seats and went on to become an ally in the NPP-led ruling government.
Ahead of the election, the UDP had claimed it would win 30 seats. “The Congress is disintegrating, the TMC is new and there is anti-incumbency against the NPP,” said the party’s general secretary Jemino Mawthoh. “This has led to a space for parties like the UDP, which is focusing on aspirations of the local people.”
Renikton Tonghkar, the minister who himself recently joined the UDP, said the party was going to face the elections “with 12 incumbent MLAs” — more than the TMC and the Congress. “We are on a stronger footing this year,” he claimed. “It’s time Meghalaya got a regional party at its helm — to focus on aspirations of local people. Moreover, since we are independent, we do not need to wait for the approval of the high command in Delhi to make a decision related to the state,” he said.
Critics, however, accused the UDP of playing on the Khasi-Garo divide, by publicly pushing for a non-Garo chief minister. In Meghalaya, while Khasis are believed to be the most powerful group, political power has largely remained in the hands of Garo politicians, some of the most well-known of whom are from the Garo tribe, starting from former chief minister Williamson Sangma to former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma, who also held the top office. For the last 13 years, the state has had a Garo chief minister – first Mukul Sangma, and currently Conrad Sangma.
The UDP general secretary had played down the allegation. “UDP represents the interests of all people of the state… We are not communal, we have leaders in the Garo Hills too,” Mawthoh said, “All we had said was that for a change there could be a Khasi face too. But this does not mean we have anything against a Garo CM. The CM should be an able leader from any part of the state.”
