Staff Reporter
SHILLONG:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on February 23 said it will institute an inquiry into the alleged land scam in Mawpdang, if it comes to power.
“Nobody is going to form the government without the BJP; within six months, everything will go to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Whoever is involved, will not go scot-free,” Hek threatened while speaking to reporters.
Hek said that the Mawpdang Dorbar Shnong had publicly agreed to sell 807.76 acres of land in Mawpdang at the cost of Rs 45 per square feet, but the government involved middlemen and bought the land at a trumped-up cost of Rs 85 per square feet.
The controversial allegation against the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) was first made by Mukul Sangma on February 21, who said the residents of Mawpdang were short-changed by Rs 140 crore.
According to Sangma, the rates were approved by the Cabinet on October 4, 2021.
Hek said, “There is no sanction! We are all in debt today. We are not only paying loan, but interest too, to the World Bank.”
Hek responds to Rahul Gandhi
Hek also lashed out once more at Congress, critiquing the party’s performance during its rule “for almost 60 years.”
Hek, who is contesting the Pynthorumkhrah seat in the February 27 assembly election, was reacting to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation during a rally here on Wednesday that the saffron party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were trying to attack and erode the cultural, traditional, and religious heritage of the people of Meghalaya.
Gandhi accused BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the paramilitary volunteer organisation that has exercised great power since BJP’s sweep in 2014, of attacking and eroding the cultural, traditional and religious heritage of the people of Meghalaya.
Attacks on Christians
When questioned about BJP’s silence on attacks on minorities, a visibly peeved Hek said “people are asking the same questions” since 1998, when he first began contesting on the BJP ticket.
Hek dismissed all criticisms as propaganda, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Vatican City and extension of invitation to Pope Francis to visit India was evidence that he is not anti-Christian.
Hek said that all this is just propaganda by the different political parties against the BJP, particularly the Congress.