GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s comments regarding the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidates’ electoral defeats in Nagaland and Meghalaya have sparked strong reactions from political parties in these states.
Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, chief of the Voice of the People Party (VPP) in Meghalaya, sharply rebuked Sarma’s statements, labelling him a “habitual loose talker”.
“He has no right whatsoever to interfere in the affairs of Meghalaya as far as the recently-concluded Parliamentary election is concerned,” Basaiawmoit said.
In a notable victory for the VPP, Ricky Andrew J. Syngkon won the Shillong seat by defeating three-time MP Vincent H. Pala of Congress with a margin of 3.72 lakh votes.
Basaiawmoit criticized Sarma for suggesting that Christians in the region were biased. He stressed that the people of Meghalaya have the right to choose any person as long as they are Indian citizens and qualified to contest.
He added that the voters are not “naïve and are well aware of the aims, objectives, agenda, and manifestos of the political parties that contested the polls”.
Similarly, the Rising People’s Party (RPP) in Nagaland condemned Sarma’s remarks, accusing him of “consistently berating Christians” and attributing the NDA’s electoral defeat to the community.
In Nagaland, Congress candidate S Supongmeren Jamir triumphed over NDPP’s Chumben Murry to secure the state’s lone Lok Sabha seat.
The RPP highlighted that the voters across various communities, such as the Hindu Meiteis in Manipur, also chose their candidates based on dissatisfaction with national leadership.
They pointed to Congress candidate Angomcha Bimol Akoijam’s recent victory in the Inner Manipur constituency as a case in point.
The RPP slammed Sarma for his “undignified behaviour and coarse language”, stating that such conduct is unbecoming of any state’s Chief Minister.
Earlier, Sarma, while speaking to the press at the BJP’s state office following the declaration of the Lok Sabha results, had claimed that “a particular religion openly went against our government in the said states, and “that religion has tremendous followers in those states”.
Notably, these states have a predominantly Christian population.
