Sangmas vs Sangmas in Meghalaya: 'Outsider' issue also raises its head

Monday's elections in the Garo hills of western Meghalaya will see the traditional poll battleground of the Sangmas and their family members.

Chief Minister and National People's Party (NPP) supremo Conrad Kongkal Sangma and former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma (2010-2018) along with their family members are the main contenders in the Garo hill region, which accounts for 24 seats in the 60-member Meghalaya assembly.

For more than one-and-a-half decades the chief ministers are representing the Garo hills, forcing the United Democratic Party (UDP), which is contesting on 46 seats, to raise the demand that it is time for a Khasi chief minister. The UDP is a part of the 6-party Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government led by the NPP.

The tribal dominated Meghalaya has three major regions - Khasi, Jaintia and Garo.

Conrad and his brother James Pangsang Kongkal Sangma, a minister in the MDA government, are contesting the polls. Their sister and former union minister Agatha Sangma is the incumbent Lok Sabha MP from Tura, one of Meghalaya's two parliamentary seats.

Conrad's uncle Thomas Sangma, his brother-in-law Sanjay Sangma, cousin Ian Botham Sangma are in the fray. Agatha's brother-in-law Chireng Peter Marak, is also contesting as a NPP candidate.

Mukul Sangma's wife Dikkanchi Shira, daughter Miani Shira, brother Zenith Sangma and Zenith's wife Sadhiyarani Sangma are all sitting MLAs and are seeking re-election.

Conrad, son of former Lok Sabha speaker and late union minister, P A Sangma, won the Tura Lok Sabha seat in 2016 after it fell vacant following the death of P.A. Sangma, founder of NPP.

Conrad defeated his nearest rival Dikkanchi D. Shira, wife of former Meghalaya Chief minister Mukul Sangma. After his election to the state assembly in 2018, Agatha Sangma won the Tura LS seat.



Deputy Chief Minister and NPP's national Vice-President Prestone Tynsong said that if the party comes to power, the new chief minister (from the NPP) would be elected by the party MLAs.

Twelve MLAs, led by former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, who had won in the 2018 Assembly election as Congress nominees, joined the Trinamool in November 2021, making the West Bengal-based party the main opposition in the northeastern state overnight.

Mukul Sangma is contesting from two assembly seats -- Songsak and Tikrikilla -- both in the Garo hills while Conrad is seeking re-election from the South Tura seat. The BJP has fielded Bernad M Marak against the NPP chief.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda during their election campaign criticised the Sangmas for engaging in family based politics.

Assam Chief Minister and one of the BJP's northeast strategists Himanta Biswa Sarma during the election campaign criticised the Sangmas and said "These people are such a privileged lot that even the child in the mother's womb is MLA designate."

Sarma is the convenor of the BJP led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the northeast unit of the National Democratic Alliance.

The "outsider insider" debate also became a major issue in the Meghalaya polls with the ruling NPP tagging the opposition Trinamool Congress as an outsider party.

Conrad Sangma during his election rallies said that Meghalaya cannot remain dependent on leaders and political parties from 'outside' for development of the state.

"We cannot go to West Bengal or Delhi for solutions to our problems. We have to solve our problems considering the local perspective," Conrad Sangma pointed out and said that NPP is the party formed by the late P. A. Sangma to uphold the interests of the people of Meghalaya and the region.

Sangma recently in one of his election rallies in North Garo hills said that he has great respect for the TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as she had once supported P.A. Sangma. She also has huge respect for the late leader but in politics the TMC is a new entrant in Meghalaya.

Conrad Sangma observed that the TMC would need a lot of time to create a political base in the northeastern state.

"The Meghalaya TMC leaders are all old players, who have come from the Congress. They got enough opportunity to serve Meghalaya when they were in the Congress but they failed. TMC is yet to understand the northeast and its people. They are an outsider in Meghalaya just like the TMC had claimed the BJP was an outsider in the Bengal elections," the NPP chief said.

Mamata Banerjee during her election campaign had clarified that there is a buzz that the TMC is a Bengali party and Bengal based but it is a national party.

She said that Kolkata is nearer to Meghalaya and Delhi is far. "Kolkata is the gateway to northeast India."

The Trinamool supremo urged the people of Meghalaya to choose leaders from the soil, saying: "Outsiders want to rule here while oppressing you with NRC, CAA, bullets, and scandals. Meghalaya will be run by Meghalaya people, not Guwahati or Delhi. We too won't run it from Bengal. We are your friends and we will only help you with whatever you need."