THE IDEA EXCHANGE

"Irrespective of whose son or grandson you may be, you can be rejected by the electorate"

Posted: Sunday, Sep 07, 2008 at 0044 hrs IST
Updated: Sunday, Sep 07, 2008 at 0044 hrs IST

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: most pertinent to my family. I have my elder brother who is an MLA and is the parliamentary secretary handling Home and PWD. My younger sister is an MP and the youngest member of Parliament. And there’s me. But just because we have the brand name does not mean that we do not have the right to be in politics. Our future in politics will be determined by our performance and the people will decide whether we should continue or not. I lost the first elections I fought as I had no connection with the grassroots. I thought the brand name of Sangma would pull me through. So I do not believe in this dynastic issue.

Sudhanshu Khurana: Why don’t we see many more young politicians who are not from political families?

Randeep: I don’t think that is entirely correct. The media focuses on politicians who are somebody’s sons, daughters or nephews. There are at least 20 members of Parliament who are nobody’s sons or daughters in politics. There are young politicians who are leaders in their own right but but our focus is too much on a Manpreet Badal, a Conrad Sangma, a Jyotiraditya Scindia or on a Sachin Pilot. We refuse to look beyond perhaps because they are not media savvy. But they are all wedded to the grassroots and are rooted to the ground.

Shravan Sen: Conrad Sangma, when you talk about youth and merit how do you reconcile it with the fact that there is reservation in Meghalaya that gives preference to tribals?

Conrad: Personally, I feel that in a state like Meghalaya there should be no reservation policy because the majority of the state is tribal and you end up giving reservation to them, when reservation was meant for a minority. But this is a political stand. From a general perspective I think it is unfair. That’s why I want the private sector to play a bigger role. I want to create jobs through the call centres and the BPOs. I personally have over 700 people working for me in Shillong — a sizeable number for the state. The government has acquired about 100 acres of land where we are going to put an IT estate. We have extended the airport which is about 10 minutes away from this estate. We are developing a complete investment policy where we are giving up to 30% capital subsidy to anybody...

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