Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) president Conrad K. Sangma was accorded a hero’s welcome at Guwahati’s Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport on Thursday afternoon. He landed from New Delhi after a day of “victory for the people of the Northeast”.
The ‘victory’ was related to the Centre’s failure in bringing the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Rajya Sabha.
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Some regional political parties and non-governmental organisations have hailed Mr. Sangma as the “face of the Northeast”. “We cannot but thank Conrad Sangma who managed to unite all the regional forces to thwart the BJP’s communal politics,” Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president Atul Bora said.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) acknowledged Mr. Sangma’s “crusade”, which made his Meghalaya Democratic Alliance Cabinet comprising a BJP Minister (out of two MLAs of the party) pass a resolution opposing the Bill last year. This, the union said, shook the region out of slumber.
“His bold stand despite being a part of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance was crucial in the region’s collective fight against the bid to make the anti-Northeast Bill a reality. He has made us realise what the indigenous people of the region can do if they are together,” AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya said.
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Leaders of the North East Students’ Organisation have found in the Meghalaya Chief Minister glimpses of his father, former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma, one of the tallest leaders the region has produced.
Mr. Sangma, however, downplayed his role. “The outcome of the anti-Bill movement was the result of teamwork, where people from across seven States, irrespective of their political affiliation, ethnicity, religion and language, joined hands and showed no challenge is big enough if we are with each other for a common cause,” he said.
The Congress said Mr. Sangma was not the only reason why the BJP failed to table the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. “We mobilised people and various organisations, facilitated meetings with various parties across the nation and ensured the support of 116 MPs against the Bill,” Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora said.