 "<b>Newsmaker:</b> Mukul Sangma")
Mukul Sangma, chief minister (CM) of Meghalaya, has been selected by the Congress party to head a group of CMs to raise a collective voice from the region against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He represents a state that is one of the most interesting in the Northeast because of the nature of its ruling class. The Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms analysed the 2013 Assembly election and said 60 per cent of those elected were crorepatis, up from 15 in the 2008 poll to 36 in 2013. The average of assets declared by an MLA rose from Rs 1.12 crore in 2008 to Rs 7.77 crore in 2013, up 530 per cent in five years. And, 25 per cent of the MLAs were 40 or below. So, Sangma represents a state with young, relatively educated, representatives who are also wealthy and have become wealthier because of their involvement in politics.
Which is possibly why Sangma, who unlike a lot of other Northeastern politicians has been consistently with the Congress, has been chosen as a spokesman of party-ruled states in the region. In Meghalaya, the principal rivalry is between the Khasi and Garo tribes, with those from the Lushai hills coming in the way. The first is represented by D D Lapang, former CM; the second by the Sangmas, first by Purno Sangma and his family, and after his death, by Mukul Sangma.
Mukul graduated in medicine from the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal in 1989. In 1991, joined as a medical and health officer at Zikzak Public Health Centre. He joined active politics in 1993 and was elected to the legislative Assembly from Ampatigiri as an independent candidate. He was re-elected from the same seat in 1998, 2003 and 2008 as a Congress candidate. In the 2004 Lok Sabha election, he lost to Purno Sangma, who contested on the Trinamool Congress ticket, from Tura. In 2009, he became deputy chief minister of the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) government, led by Lapang, who resigned in April 2010. Sangma became the CM and then again in 2013.
Although the Congress faced a serious setback recently, leading to a furious reaction from MLAs in the state demanding he step down, Sangma continues to rule. The byelection to the Tura Lok Sabha seat after Purno Sangma’s death in February saw his son, Conrad, of the National People’s Party win, polling 329,000 votes. Congress candidate Dikkanchi Shira, also Mukul Sangma’s wife, polled only 137,000. The Congress could manage to poll more votes than the NPP in only one of the 24 Assembly segments under Tura. Party MLAs believe this is a recipe for disaster in the future.
Mukul Sangma seems unworried. By appointing him the face of the Congress in the Northeast, the party is projecting him as their answer to Himanta Biswa Sarma, once Tarun Gogoi’s right-hand man in Assam, who defected from the Congress to join the BJP and is now trying to coordinate the BJP's activities in the Northeast. Can Mukul Sangma’s skills match Sarma’s? Time will tell.