SHILLONG: Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has come down hard on the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) 2.0 government for denying permission to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to address students at the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya on Tuesday.
In what seemed to be a veiled critique of the Centre and the BJP government in Assam, Shillong MP Vincent Pala suggested that the denial reflected the influence that Delhi and Assam hold over the Conrad Sangma-led government.
Rahul Gandhi was slated to engage with civil society members and students at the university, located on the Assam-Meghalaya border, on Tuesday morning.
However, Congress alleged that the invitation was revoked following Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s involvement.
Undeterred, the Congress party, in line with the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’s spirit, engaged with a group of students outside the university campus.
Perched atop the bus used for the yatra, Rahul discussed various issues during the interaction, focusing on the alleged suppression of voices and individual freedoms by the current government.
“It is not important if Rahul Gandhi comes or not. What is important is that you are allowed to listen to anybody you want. You must be allowed to live life as you want and not as somebody else wants. They want to turn you into slaves, but I know that nobody, no power in the universe can do it,” he was quoted by a national daily as saying.
Meanwhile, in response to the episode and accusations of sabotaging Gandhi’s programme at the university, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a social media post, clarified that since the university is in Meghalaya, Assam has no role in their decision.
” What sort of person is he (Gandhi)? The event was in Meghalaya, yet he is hurling expletives at Assam,” the post in Assamese roughly translated to.
