From Our Correspondent

RESUBELPARA, May 28: Leader of Opposition Mukul M. Sangma has rubbished recent claims in various media outlets of shifting his political allegiance to the National Peoples' Party (NPP) claiming the same was only like it sounded - speculation.

Speaking to The Shillong Times on Thursday near Resubelpara in North Garo Hills (NGH), Sangma claimed that they were going strong despite the setback suffered by the TMC in West Bengal and were well-placed in Meghalaya because the grassroots was extremely well oiled.
"Has this come from the horse's mouth? There can be setbacks in politics to any party. Look what happened to the BJP in West Bengal in 2021 when they secured 77 seats but this time around they managed over 200 seats. Politics always has the habit of triggering uncertainties and throwing surprises," said Sangma.
He felt that in Meghalaya, the beauty of the party is the fact that it is built on the strength of its grassroots. "The moment you fail to realize your strength, then this is what happens. You have to aggregate all factors to find a solution to issues," he added.

Education crisis

Referring to Meghalaya's education crisis, Sangma felt the government was in denial mode over the bottom ranking in the recent PGI data on education.
"Have we not tried to draw the attention of the government in the August House during sessions on the issue? We did so repeatedly - not just once or twice. If such calls fall on deaf ears, this is what you receive," he said.
He felt that the government has to firstly acknowledge a problem instead of being in denial as a policymaker.
"How will you find a solution if you don't agree that there is a problem and continue to deny it? Denial is not the way the state can seek ways to see how to get out of the current mess. I am stating that this is a mess without blaming anyone," he added.
The TMC leader stated that with education being a concurrent subject, the blame needs to be shared between both the Centre and the state.
"One size fits all is not the way to go about making policy decisions on education. Sitting in an AC room in New Delhi without understanding the ground realities of what is being faced in the remote parts of the country. They do not understand that challenges vary across the nation," he added.
Taking the example of people from within the state, he asserted that challenges in education were different even in various parts of Garo Hills and even within the rural/urban divide.
"The challenges being faced by students and parents in Shillong are different from those in Tura. Even in Garo Hills, the challenges faced in Tura are different from Williamnagar. The desire to learn by those shouldering the responsibility of governance and the desire to comprehend the challenges can be the only way to find solutions to the mess that we are in," he concluded.