In Meghalaya, the narrative about TMC changed to a party of “outsiders”, and then “has an agenda to flood the state with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”. In the picture, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is seen during her visit to Meghalaya ahead of the state assembly elections. file | Photo Credit: ANI
Guwahati
The Bangladeshi issue, a major poll issue in Assam, has “infiltrated” Constituency Meghalaya, blame it Trinamool Congress (TMC),
Later Failed to make a mark in Goa in 2022, TMC invested heavily in Meghalaya to establish that it had acceptability beyond West Bengal. There was a reason for this; In November 2021, 12 Congress MLAs switched sides to form Meghalaya’s opposition party.
Four MLAs resigned ahead of the announcement of the February 27 polls to join other parties, including TMC’s primary rival, the National People’s Party (NPP). But this apparently did not reduce the threat to the party in many of the 55 seats it was contesting.
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The Legislative Assembly of Meghalaya has 60 members.
Rival BJP from NPP and minor ally started targeting TMC after it went out of the block to announce its candidates, initially 52, about a month back.
The two older parties began branding the TMC as the party of Bengalis, a community often subjected to caste violence. The narrative about TMC turning into a party of “outsiders”, and then one with an “agenda to fill Meghalaya with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”.
Meghalaya shares a 443-km border with Bangladesh, but has not been as paranoid as Assam about land and resources being grabbed by Bangladeshis.
As TMC leaders launched the campaign with a call to “save Meghalaya” from the corruption and misrule of the NPP and its allies, Chief Minister Konrad K. Marak and other NPP leaders changed the slogan.
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NPP spokesperson Bajop Pingrope said, “We will save Meghalaya from illegal immigration from Bangladeshis, which the TMC is trying to bring.”
The TMC responded by accusing the NPP of paving the way for “another set” of persecuted religious minorities – Bangladeshis – by supporting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019.
TMC’s candidate from Rambarai-Jirangam constituency, Fernandez S. Dkhar said, “Those calling us pro-Bangladeshi supported the CAA, which our president Mamata Banerjee opposed in West Bengal.”
“It was not TMC but NPP which voted for CAA in Parliament. It is the NPP that wants Bangladeshis because the whole idea behind the law is to bring people from India’s neighboring countries.