© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Last week, on the day the Election Commission announced the dates of Meghalaya polls, five MLAs from different parties, including a minister, resigned from the state Assembly to join the small regional outfit United Democratic Party (UDP).
In an election that is largely seen as a contest between Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party (NPP) and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), these MLAs jumping ship to the UDP may seem like a curious development.
However, ahead of the February 27 polls, the many regional parties that dot the political landscape of Meghalaya are ramping up their campaign. And the UDP — which is currently a constituent of the NPP-led coalition government in Meghalaya, but will go solo this February — is one of the most vocal among them.
Last week, one of the defecting MLAs, Renikton Lyngdoh Tongkhar, who was the Public Health Engineering Minister, told reporters that the UDP will “emerge as a major regional force in the upcoming Assembly polls”. He emphasised 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 Congress winning 24. Based on a post-poll power-sharing agreement with the Congress, UDP founder E K Mawlong became Meghalaya’s chief minister in 2000. However, his tenure was short-lived. 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.
Observers say the UDP was popular at one point, but has lost its grip now, and usually ends up as kingmakers in a state known to return fractured mandates. In 2018, the party won six seats but went on to become an ally in the NPP-led ruling government. Ahead of the 2023 elections, though, the allies have been lashing out at each other.
This election, the UDP has not signed a pre-poll alliance with any party, with its leaders talking of a resurgence and claiming they will 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 have pointed out that the UDP’s campaign has focused on regional aspirations at the expense of raking up 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 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.”
