Social activist accuses CM of asking her to ‘keep quiet’

SHILLONG, OCT 18: Social activist Amita Sangma on Monday accused the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma of asking her to “keep quiet” on the November 8, 2018 – murderous attack on her and Agnes Kharshiing in the coal belt district of East Jaintia Hills.

Amita also expressed doubt that they will get justice so long as the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) is in power in the state.

It has been almost three years since Agnes and Amita survived the horrifying incident. They were attacked by a group of 30-40 people at Tuber Sohshrieh village in East Jaintia Hills district, just after taking pictures of coal laden trucks on November 8, 2018.

“I doubt that we will be able to get justice because even Conrad K Sangma is also involved. His own partymen were involved in attacking me and Agnes,” Amita told reporters.

She said that the prime accused was an NPP leader from the district Nidamon Chullet, who was very much present when the incident took place.

“Conrad Sangma also knew them very well but the question arises is why he failed to reveal how many of his own people were involved in attacking us,” she asked.

Amita also recalled that the Chief Minister had visited her when she was admitted at the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and alleged that he had instead asked her to “keep quiet”.

“After the incident had taken place, he (CM) visited me at NEIGRIHMS hospital. I actually wanted to tell him about the entire incident since he is the CM of the state, I thought by telling him, we can get some help but instead he told me don’t tell (anybody) keep quiet. Because of this, I had to keep quiet and I don’t dare to tell this to anyone. This made me wonder as to what made the CM say like that because I thought we have to tell everything whatever had happened,” she said.

“After that, I saw that Nidamon Chullet had donated Rs 2 lakh to the Chief Minister for tackling the COVID pandemic. Then I realized that we will never get justice because the entire ruling National People’s Party is involved in the incident,” she further alleged.

Also accusing the Chief Minister of not having any respect for women, Amita further slammed the NPP-led state government for failing to institute an independent inquiry into the entire incident that was linked to illegal coal trade.

“When the incident took place, they (govt) promised to institute an independent inquiry but now they are just keeping quiet, nobody is talking about the incident anymore and this made me feel that this is not a good government and that it is a government that commits murder because even the CM asked me not to say anything and that I should keep quiet. The CM is also a criminal if he is shielding criminals, murderers etc,” she said.

By Our Reporter