Pala urge voters of regional parties to vote for Congress, says fight is against BJP 

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 15, 2024

Congress chief and sitting MP from Shillong Vincent H Pala on Monday asked the supporters of the different political parties to unite and vote for the Congress because it is the only party which can fight against the BJP at the Centre.   

“I urge the supporters of National People’s Party, Voice of the People Party, United Democratic Party, Hill State People’s Democratic Party to unite and support the Congress, which can fight the BJP,” Pala said while addressing an election campaign in Jowai, West Jaintia Hills District.

“No need to go to the NPP or VPP or RDA because instead of fighting against the BJP, we end up fighting against each other. Therefore, we should unite and we should not divide. You can do that in MLA and MDC elections but for MP, you should only vote for the Congress,” he said.

He said the BJP is abusing its powers by threatening different political leaders with CBI, ED etc and alleged that it has collected over Rs 6,000 crore from this.

“The people have the power to defeat the BJP through unity and working for the Congress,” he added.

Pala also warned that the BJP’s move to pass the uniform civil code (UCC) will to a great extent affect the state of Meghalaya, which is known for its matrilineal system.

“UCC will affect our matrilineal system. It will definitely affect us because we are taking the surname from the mother,” he said while touching on the other aspects of the UCC that will affect the tradition and culture of the indigenous people of the state.

Stating that there is a system in parliament, Pala said only 13 seconds is allotted to each of the 543 MPs in the Lok Sabha to speak. “Therefore, we know the system and it is meaningless to send candidates from the regional parties,” he added.

Rubbishing allegations that he was sleeping during the past 15 years as MP, Pala said, “In fact, I am one of the most hard working MPs from the region. Most of the MPs of the NE are saying that I should win again because (they know how much I work hard). It is because of this that 39 MPs have elected me as secretary general of the North East MPs’ Forum.”

He said that people don’t know this because he is not used to highlighting his works on social media.

Pala also lamented that Jaintia Hills region has been neglected by the government and said, “Our name has disappeared from the State Anthem.” He also assured to pursue the demand for inclusion of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

Meanwhile, Pala said that the frustration level is very high among the citizens and this is because due to the deficiency in the policy of the government adding there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor as there is no policy because the government lacks the political will to address issues faced by the people.

He further assured that the Congress if voted to power will increase the wages of MGNREGA job card holders to Rs 400 from Rs 238 per day besides sanctioning of Rs 10 crore corpus funds to all districts for addressing various issues confronting the respective districts of the state.