Congress leader Ronnie V Lyngdoh on Tuesday said that the Congress had supported the official resolution on ILP passed by the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. This shows the party is very clear on its stand on the ILP issue.
Talking to reporters after filing his nomination from Mylliem Assembly Constituency, Lyngdoh said, it is loud and clear that Congress supports the ILP in the interest of the people of the state not to be overwhelmed by the majority.
“How can you say that the Congress is not clear? We are very clear on the floor of the House, unanimously we have supported the demand for ILP. If that is going to ensure the protection of our state of the indigenous people we give full support. Come on that is not a fact that we are not very clear. We are very clear, loud and clear that we support the ILP in the interest of the people of the state not to be overwhelmed by the majority,” Lyngdoh said.
He said, “If we come to power at the Centre because this is a central subject as the state does not have the power or the mandate to enact but if people vote us back in the state certainly we will ensure ILP is implemented.”
He also expressed confidence that the party will bounce back to power in 2023.
The former legislator said, “The Congress is going to bounce back to power. Recently we had two assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, which were ruled by the BJP. Congress managed to arrest the seat from the BJP in Himachal Pradesh and we are going to arrest more states from the BJP believe me.”
He denied the allegation made by other political parties that Congress is a ‘sinking ship’ saying that such statement is without any basis and justification.
“BJP rules only in 12 states but we have our presence in all the states of the country. How can you say it is a sinking ship? Yes, maybe now we do not have elected candidates but the party exists in all parts of the country. You can see the Bharat Yatra of our leader Rahul Gandhi; you see thousands of people following him on foot, walked and accompanied him. How can you say that it is a sinking ship?” he said.
He added, “Talking about these parties that give that allegations where else do they have their presence except here in Meghalaya, some don’t even have their presence in the entire state as they have only in a few districts come on. I mean when you say something, say something which can be justified.”
On the border issue, Lyngdoh said, “Every stakeholder should be taken on board – the himas, the landowners. Now if everyone is happy then we will go ahead with it and if one single person or single section of society is not happy we are going to respect their sentiment. We are not just going to surrender.”
He said, “50 years back we got our statehood so that we are not under the domination of Assam. Now the very same party, look at their hypocrisy, they honoured the people who are fighting for the statehood but what are they doing now 50 years later they surrender before Assam under the NEDA. It only shows the hypocrisy to fool the people.”
“But we are going to respect the sentiments of the people. We are going to ensure our land is precious and nothing is more precious to the people of the state than our land and we are going to ensure we do not lose one inch of our land to anyone,” he said.
On the corruption allegations against the MDA government, he said, “You see corruption everywhere be it in the coal scam, be it in the Saubhagya scam, be it in the rice scam, be it in the Covid scam – you talk of any scam, the MDA is involved. It has its hands in all the scams.”
“They may deny and it only strengthens the allegation now they have also withdrawn their consent to the CBI to conduct an inquiry. What more do you have to say?
When somebody gives allegations then there should be an independent inquiry to ascertain whether the allegations are true or false. Why are they scared? If you have nothing to hide, why are you scared of the CBI inquiry?”