‘Citizenship Amendment Bill issue has helped us reach entire Northeast’: Conrad Sangma

In an interview to DNA, Meghalaya CM and National People’s Party president Conrad Sangma speaks of the political ramifications in the Northeast for a regional party like his after the anti-Citizenship Amendment Bill protests in the Lok Sabha elections. Edited excerpts:  

How do you plan to galvanise the anti-CAB sentiment in these elections?

When we started the campaign against CAB, it really wasn’t with the intention to take political advantage. But this is politics, and there are effects. I don’t want to directly connect CAB to the Lok Sabha elections, it was an emotional issue for us, one where everyone came together without any organisation naturally. Having said that, there are political ramifications, with people expecting with a party that is taking up indigenous issues of the Northeast. As a political party, that has been an ideology as well as a platform, and we have built the party on that. This situation has helped us reach out to other parts of the Northeast and in this elections, we are planning to contest in as many seats as possible. Our GBM had decided that we contest all 25 seats, but our assessment shows that it is not that simple. But we have made up our mind to expand the reach to all corners of the NE and beyond also. We hope this is the beginning to build the party in the longer run, as this is not about just one election. This will bear fruit in the next assembly elections and the next Lok Sabha elections. 

Apart from the NE, are there any states that you are looking at in the immediate?

There are certain issues which came out in North Bengal, and lot of people have approached us. As a political party, we will take these up. It is again an issue that is kind of linked to indigenous issues. The statehood issue is a much bigger promise for us to deliver at this moment, but we relate to the sentiments and we are ready to be a platform to address the issue and fight for them. Of course, there are other states where my late father was in alliance with when he was the president of the party; he had a lot of goodwill and a lot of friends, some of who are not directly connected to the indigenous issue of the NE. But we may for the sake of continuity may contest in a seat or two. That’s not final yet. 

The Congress has announced former CM Mukul Sangma from Tura, the same seat your sister, former MP Agatha Sangma is fighting. Is that a tough one for you? 

Congress’s decision is their’s to make, but Mukul has contested in the past, so has his wife and son-in-law. And, in spite of them running a government in the state as well as the Centre, people’s mindset was different. Now with those advantages gone, and the people looking at the MDA government positively, I think this election will not be very different. We see a strong wave for the NPP in the Garo Hills and hope for the best. But I remain careful; I have contested five elections and lost two, I have learned never to be overconfident. We need to work hard. 

You’ve earlier told us that you will not let the BJP be a big brother in the MDA government. You think the BJP has miscalculated in the CAB. 

When I had discussed this with other NDA allies and the BJP also, BJP did not feel that way and they wanted to go ahead with the CAB. I don’t think they calculated this, but it goes with their ideology and so they felt this is something they should do. They must have thought of the difference it would make in, say, West Bengal and other states, but they did not anticipate the protests within the NE. But I’m glad that after all the political parties, NGOs, religious and student bodies approached them, the government realised that this is not the right time and the right way. They realised that they should approach it differently, and consult more before going ahead. Of course, it has had a damaging effect, and to certain measures, political damages. 

Right now after the CAB, do you think for a regional party like yours, this presents a pan-region reach between the Congress and the BJP? 

There is a vacuum in the region’s political space, which has been around for a while, and people have taken notice now. There’s a need for a pan-Northeast platform. Lot of people thought and talked about it. We have been stressing time and again, that it is a fact that in Delhi, numbers matter. And, we have seen that when MPs from the NE go to Delhi, nobody really cares much. Of course there are speeches on the region in the Parliament. What we have been saying is that if there’s anybody who can change things in the region, it’s not that national parties, it will be us. We have to take the lead and do things on our own. We feel that in this, the NPP can deliver. If our people could unite under one platform, if say the people can give me five MPs, I can really show that we can make a massive difference in the approach of things.