MEGHALAYA BJP LEADER QUITS OVER BEEF PARTY, ANOTHER TO GO
GUWAHATI: A proposed beef party by several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Meghalaya to mark the third anniversary of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has sparked a controversy with one office bearer quitting the saffron outfit and another likely to be asked to resign.
“I quit the party as the BJP is trying to impose their ideology on us. What’s wrong if we planned to celebrate the third anniversary in our own traditional way?” Bernard N Marak, former West Garo Hills district president of the BJP, questioned.
The leader hit the headlines a few days back after he stated that the saffron party would bring down prices of beef in Meghalaya if it comes to power after next year’s assembly polls.
Bernard told HT that the party was to be held in the second week of June “in a bid to clear doubts of the local people that BJP was trying to impose a ban on consumption of beef”.
“The party was growing rapidly in Garo Hills. But now many people are worried and there could be more resignations,” Bernard, who plans to contest as an Independent candidate from Tura (South) in 2018, said.
The party’s North Garo Hills district president Bachu C Marak also posted about holding a beef party with ‘bitchi’—the local term for rice beer—on Facebook on Wednesday.
BJP’s Meghalaya in-charge Nalin Kohli, who was in Shillong, told HT that the state unit will take steps to remove Bachu or will welcome his resignation.
“The BJP as a disciplined party will not tolerate any members who, for their personal political gains, digress from Modiji’s agenda of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’ (With Everyone, For Everyone’s Development),” Kohli said.
There are 26 assembly seats in Garo Hills and some party leaders feel the Centre’s decision to ban the sale of cattle for slaughter could affect the party’s prospects in the upcoming assembly polls.
THE LEADER HIT THE HEADLINES A FEW DAYS AGO AFTER HE SAID THE BJP WILL BRING DOWN PRICES OF BEEF IN MEGHALAYA IF IT COMES TO POWER AFTER NEXT YEAR’S STATE POLLS.