Christians will reject the BJP: Congress

SHILLONG, FEB 7: Former minister Manas Chaudhuri today said Christians and other religious minorities will reject the BJP even as he expressed confidence that the ruling Congress will come back to power in the state.

“BJP has been trying to penetrate into Meghalaya for so many months, but where the acceptance of the BJP is because I was in BJP and found it is very difficult as Christian and religious minorities have not accepted BJP in Meghalaya,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after filing his nominations as a Congress candidate from South Shillong constituency here on Wednesday, Manas said that this is because the Christians, the Muslims and other groups are aware of the BJP’s agenda.

Stating that it will not be easy to sell the BJP’s idea in Meghalaya, he said that everyday in the media there are reports about the BJP’s fringe community and groups doing all kind of vandalism.

“The BJP has tried to give a sob by giving Rs 70 crore for religious pilgrimage but that is too little and too late. It is not working as we have seen churches have not accepted it and this shows minorities have not accepted the BJP’s idea,” he said.

According to him, one cannot expect Christians who are minority in India to accept the BJP just like that when there is an intrusion into their rights.

Asked, the former minister said that he had worked at the grassroot level when he joined the BJP, eight months ago, and he was given the responsibility of organizing the party and selling the idea of the BJP.

“I worked for eight months and my experience tells me that they (people of Meghalaya) will accept me but they don’t like the BJP. That was the common refrain everywhere I went,” he said.

It may be mentioned that Chaudhuri had decided to return to the Congress after the BJP denied him ticket from South Shillong and the same was given to former legislator Sanbor Shullai.

“Now that the party (BJP) has rejected me it came out to be boon for me. I am so grateful to God to give me this opportunity to be back in my former party and the Congress is going to capture power in March,” he said.

Expressing confidence that the ruling Congress will come back to power in Meghalaya, Chaudhuri said, “We are sure that the party is destined to retain power in the state. The projection (winning) is that it will be closed to 30 plus.”

Admitting that the BJP had offered him the Rajya Sabha seat, the former minister that he had conveyed that he is not interested to be a member of the Rajya Sabha from other states.

“Although it would have been a personal glory for me that am a member of Rajya Sabha but I am not looking for personal glory and that is why I have not taken (the offer). I belong to this place I must work for this place,” he said.

Reacting to a query, Chaudhuri said that the reason he had not opted to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is because it is a “dead” party.

Meanwhile, the Congress candidate said that Meghalaya can be real model state.

“Meghalaya can be a real model state it can still be I believe it can be so we will create a road map for Meghalaya for the coming five years,” he said.

Stating that in five years time Meghalaya will complete 50 years of statehood, he however said as of today there is little to show to the people and rest of the country and the world on the progress being made in 45 years.

“But in the next five years, we will try to make these corrections we will try to give better results, better roads,towns should be better managed. All these we have to do in the next five years,” he said.

Though it is not easy to win election and run a government, he said that we will push for a people friendly and development oriented priority for the government.

Chaudhuri further stated that if he is elected in this coming election, he would also ensure bringing a lot of change and also make a people-first programme as people are often forgotten after elections.

According to him, before election people are getting importance but after election, the MLA becomes the most important man.

“This is not the way. The chair he occupies does not belongs to him it belongs to the people and he must respect that. So we want to bring correction in our approach and our priorities and attitude. So people first will be our priority,” he added.

By Our Reporter