SHILLONG, July 7: Call it a display of poor gentlemanly behaviour, but an out of turn disruption of an official speech by a state BJP minister during a program in Shillong to welcome the maiden visit of the NDA’s presidential nominee Draupadi Murmu left the Meghalaya chief minister, his cabinet colleagues, bureaucrats and special invitees red faced on Wednesday.
BJP leader and minister Sanbor Shullai shocked everyone when he disrupted a speech by Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh in the presence of presidential nominee Draupadi Murmu at the Orchid Lake resort in Umiam on Wednesday afternoon, highly placed sources at the event told mediapersons.
Shullai had refused to accept the statement about atrocities on tribals in the country and tried to cut off the speaker, leaving Metbah Lyngdoh visibly shocked and putting the rest of the gathering at unease.
With Draupadi Murmu slated to win the presidential polls in a big way and becoming the first tribal woman to attain the highest position of the country, Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh had hailed the NDA government’s decision.
It was while the speaker was raising the worrisome cases of atrocities committed against tribals in the country that the BJP minister suddenly disrupted his speech and tried to wave off the statement.
“There are no atrocities on tribals in the country,” loudly blurted out Shullai as he tried to brush off the remark, leaving everyone shell-shocked.
Although it was a known fact about the alleged “brazen nature of the minister” yet, it was the ill-timing of his outburst that left everyone present, including the chief minister and his cabinet, scampering for cover.
While the Speaker could be seen visibly annoyed and upset, it was presidential nominee Murmu who provided the soothing balm to frayed tempers.
In her address to the gathering Draupadi Murmu said that she has noted the concerns raised by the Speaker and being a tribal herself it would be her bounden duty to ensure protection of all Indians, tribals included.
She recalled her tenure in Jharkhand where she moved as a sarpanch across different villages to interact with the tribals and take up their grievances.
