Shillong, Aug 19: The National People’s Party (NPP) has come down heavily on Congress for using terms such as ‘terrorists’ and ‘Taliban’ to refer to Meghalaya and its youth.
“The recent statement by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, where he blatantly uses the terms ‘terrorists’ and ‘Taliban’ to refer to Meghalaya and its youth, is highly despicable,” NPP Spokesperson and MLA, Marcuise N Marak said in a press statement on Thursday. Condemning the statement, he demanded that Surjewala and the Congress must collectively apologise to the people of Meghalaya for making such blatant remarks.
“If they cannot play the role of a constructive opposition, then they should not try to make futile attempts to destabilize the state machinery,” he said.
In scathing attack on Congress, he said such statement goes to show that the Congress has no understanding of the implications of such damaging statements and explains why it is increasingly becoming a party with no principles, making uninformed statements based on one video clip.
“At a time when the NPP-led MDA government is working along with the people to restore peace in the state, it is unfortunate to see that the Congress leaders are fishing in troubled waters by branding our youth ‘Talibans’ and maligning the image of Meghalaya in front of the entire country. There is no difference between the understanding of the Congress and that of an outsider and this shows they never had any understanding of the socio-political atmosphere of Meghalaya,” he said.
Stating that the incidents that took place in the last few days were very unfortunate, he said the government is looking forward to the findings of the judicial inquiry so that required steps can be taken against those who acted against the public. He remarked that as responsible members of society, Congress should have exercised restraint and displayed sensitivity in describing the situation in Meghalaya, instead of passing uninformed judgements.
“For the Congress to use the recent events as an excuse to gain petty political mileage, shows that they do not care if their actions bring a bad name to the state. Their tasteless remarks also come at a time when the Voice of Mawlai People — a collective body of all headmen of Mawlai — have resented the social media narrative of branding the youth as “communal”, “terrorists” and “Taliban”. For the Congress to use the exact same terms to describe our people in front of the national media, is an insult to the indigenous people of Meghalaya,” he said.
He also asserted that there is relative peace in the state, except for a negligible number of minor volatile incidents, which the MDA government is looking to resolve through dialogue.
“We believe that it is our responsibility to take care of each and every community in Meghalaya, and in doing so, we will fight the Congress party tooth and nail if they level such unwanted allegations against our people. If the Congress thinks it can get away with such allegations, let the people be reminded of the activities that Congress gave room to in its period of sorry governance,” he added.
