How much will Ricky AJ Syngkon, lone VPP MP in LS be able to deliver?

There has been debates as to why the first time Shillong MP should abstain from voting for the Lok Speaker’s post. Many wonder on whether a lone MP will be

Can a lone MP survive in Parliament where it is necessary for the MPs to be able to lobby so that they can benefit the people who elected him? This is something that many in Meghalaya are asking about Ricky AJ Syngkon, the lone Lok Sabha MP from VPP representing the Shillong Lok Sabha seat.

Eminent social activist, writer and journalist Patiricia Mukhim spoke to Northeast Live on this matter and cast doubts about how much a lone MP will be able to deliver. According to Mukhim, at the end of the tenure the elected representatives are answerable for what they could do.

Patricia Mukhim said, “The expectations are very high especially for the people who have voted overwhelmingly for the VPP. They have promised to bring in educational changes, to create educational changes, to create employment opportunities, to bring in the ILP, to bring the Khasi and Garo language in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution among many other promises. So people are just expecting a revolution not just a change. But then by not taking a stand in parliament by remaining a standalone MP, how far can you go because all these have to be pushed through the government.

So, you will need to lobby with the government, you will need to lobby with the opposition, we have Saleng Sangma from the Garo Hills, he is with the I.N.D.I. alliance. I think it is very important for an MP from this region to have a strong solidarity with one or the other group, otherwise you will be alone and I don’t know how much a standalone MP can achieve. Because at the end of 5 years you have to come back and we will tell the people this has been their manifesto. So how much of that manifesto has been achieved.”

Asked if she thinks that the VPP will be able to maintain its support till the next Assembly elections, Patricia Mukhim said that it depends on how much the VPP will be able to deliver in the context of promises that the party had made prior to the Lok Sabha elections. Mukhim feels that everybody will look as to what the VPP can do as far as wiping out corruption is concerned.

“They are first looking at the district council elections, and possibly also the state assembly elections if they continue to excite the imagination of the voters, if the people see that the MP is able to do something, achieve something, then people will still continue to be with them. But it is also that the votes this time was against the ruling government, there has been so much corruption, lacklustre development, roads are bad, people are not getting their basic needs like water, even in Shillong city. So it was a vote against something, it was not a vote for something. Maybe to a little extent people were excited, by this promise, you know that the promise is to address corruption at the national level. I don’t know how they are going to do that, but even if they do it at the level of the state, it will be a great achievement and if they do that many more people will vote for them, but they have to show in these 4-5 years, as to how they are going to tackle corruption in the state first,” Mukhim said.

R L Blah, secretary of the Synjuk ki Nongsynshar Shnong ka bri u Hynniewtrep, also spoke on about the expectations from the two newly elected MPs.

He said, “This is just a transition period, so both of them are newcomers. So expectations are always there from each and every citizen of the state of Meghalaya. At the very early stage we cannot say so much, but we will have to wait and see, for at least a quarter of the year. So let’s see what will be their performance like.”

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