Even as the Voice of the People’s Party (VPP) intensifies its groundwork in the Garo Hills ahead of the 2028 Assembly elections, its president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit has categorically ruled out any political overture to Dr Mukul Sangma, asserting that the party will not induct leaders merely for electoral arithmetic. Making it clear that the VPP is “not leaderless in Garo Hills,” Basaiawmoit underlined that the party’s expansion strategy would be guided strictly by ideology and principle rather than personality-driven politics.
Responding to queries on whether the VPP had approached Dr. Mukul Sangma, who continues to wield influence in the region, Basaiawmoit indicated that any of the existing leaders from Garo Hills from NPP, TMC or Congress will not be taken randomly for the sake of winning elections.
Expounding on the party’s political philosophy, Basaiawmoit said it does not permit opportunistic alignments. “You see, the VPP is a new political party altogether, and as we have repeatedly expressed that we and as I have also mentioned many times before that the voice of the people ‘s Party is not just a political party just to win elections, for us winning elections is another purpose of the party but our first intention of the party is to make people aware of and make them more political concious. Then we want to create a kind of awareness on electoral politics, what is the duty of the political parties? Party principal and the approach that we are taking as a party is different from any other political party. Any other political party, just for the sake of winning they will do anything but for us we are not doing anything which is against the principal of the party, it’s completely different. So, unless a person understands or subscribe completely to the belief, principal and ideology of the party we will not even enroll those people in the party. For us winning elections, ok we fight to win, we hope to win but we are not going to do anything just to win elections.”
On being asked directly whether the party had approached Dr. Mukul Sangma, he replied, “We do not believe in that kind of simple political calculation, we believe in different way of playing politics where you see a strong and new father figure like in Khasi Hills. Definitely, we are not going to be leader less in Garo Hills, there will be leaders but time is too early for us to discuss all these.”
The VPP president said he has been making frequent visits to the Garo Hills as part of a sustained outreach campaign. “I have been frequently visiting Garo Hills in the recent past where we want people to know we feel that the people of Garo Hills should know our objectives, our aim our goal and our principal that is our first mission. They should also understand that VPP truly represents Regionalism in the state where we are not going to compromise with the interest of the indigenous people . With that kind of education or campaign that we are taking in Garo Hills, I am happy to tell you the response as of now is very positive and the people of Garo Hills they are looking up at the voice of the people as the only regional party who are really concerned about the tribal interest of Meghalaya.”
Projecting a direct contest in the next Assembly polls, Basaiawmoit said, “we are only forecasting that the fight in 2028 will be between NPP and VPP as of now there is a perception that VPP will do better in Khasi Jaintia Hills and Npp in Garo Hills but I am telling you this will be different situation altogether once we enter the elections.”
When asked about the future of the Congress and Dr. Mukul Sangma in the evolving political landscape, the VPP chief maintained that no party can be dismissed outright. “in politics you cannot writeoff , it depends how people accept the narrative, how the people accept the issues, the ideology, so we are the party which is influenced by principal, ideology and issues and we are not going to compromise on that.”
