 "I have emerged as the leader of India's 100 mn tribals: P A Sangma")
It was quite evident from the beginning that Pranab Mukherjee would win the presidential election because the Opposition did not have the required number. Why did you agree for a token contest?
It was not a token contest; it was a contest to send a strong message that the 100 million tribals have been ignored, and the country should seriously think things over henceforth. We have been able to achieve this goal. Now, people have come to realise that tribals have been ignored in the past. In the last 66 years, candidates from different communities, except from a tribal group, have become presidents of the country.
Till the point of the presidential election, you held the record of never having lost an election. But all that changed with the big loss against Mukherjee. Do you think you run out of luck?
I don't think it's a question of luck. Yes, it's true that I had never lost any election. I won parliamentary elections nine times, and Assembly elections twice. But the presidential election was different. It's an indirect election by the elected representatives of the people. Had it been a direct election, perhaps the result would have been different. Therefore, I don't think it is serious. Winning and losing are both part of the game. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave me its full support during the presidential election. I knew we didn't have the necessary numbers. The election was an aspiration of the 100 million tribals that needed to be articulated.
The National People's Party (NPP) didn't perform well in the Assembly elections. It was the very first election of this new party. You're the only national face from the northeast region and yet, it did not work for you? What do you think went wrong?
Well, several factors went against us. First, it is a newly formed party, and voters are not very familiar with the symbol. The change of the symbol was a big factor. Second, the ruling Congress has the power of money both in the Centre and the state. I had challenged the leadership of the Congress by running for the presidential election. I was certainly a target of the party. It's a conspiracy - the party used its monetary strength, while I didn't have any money at all.
Of the 33 candidates the NPP had fielded, only two won. In fact, your son, too, lost the poll. What lies ahead for you and your party in Meghalaya and outside?
When people asked me whether the Meghalaya election was a make-or-break affair, I said in politics, there was no question of "do or die" or "make or break". It is a question of up and down. We have lost the election but it doesn't mean we will lose the election next time, too. In 1977, the world thought Indira Gandhi was completely out and finished. But in three years, she came back with a thumping majority. That's how politics works.
It has been long speculated that you will join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and will lead the alliance during the Lok Sabha election from the northeast...
The question of joining the BJP doesn't arise. As far as the national politics is concerned, since the country is now divided between the NDA and the UPA, I have to be somewhere. I cannot be in the UPA because it will not accept me. Therefore, the only choice left with me is to join the NDA. I insist on saying "at the national level" because it has nothing to do with the state level. At the state level, we can go on our own. I have already spoken to leaders concerned, and joined the alliance formally at the national level.
You have demanded a 10 per cent reservation in the Central jobs for the northeastern states. Was it only a demand to win over voters during the Assembly election, or would you try to build a national consensus on the issue?
It was not committed for the purpose of the state election. It is a genuine demand of the people from the northeast that they must have their due share in employment in the Central government. We will pursue this matter further. In fact, the NPP as a party is meant for everybody, but I must admit it is certainly tribal-centric and northeast-centric. And this is the forum through which we will fight for our rights.
Right from the beginning, the northeast has not been considered an important part of the country because of its small population. Every northeast state has either one or two members of Parliament, and it doesn't matter much in the national politics.
Your decision to contest the presidential election against Mukherjee in hindsight appears to have cost you dearly. Your daughter Agatha Sangma was dropped from the ministerial post and the Nationalist Congress Party was ready to take disciplinary action against her...
I have not lost anything by contesting the presidential election. In fact, I have gained. So long, people had been saying I was a national leader from the northeast region; now, by contesting the presidential election and forming the NPP, I have perhaps become a leader of the 100 million tribals in the country. So, it is not a loss; it is a gain. You can see the kind of response the new party is getting in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. As far as my children are concerned, I never told them to do politics in my name. If you want to do politics, you do it on your own merit. It is good that some are losing and some are winning, that's part of the game.
The Congress came back to power in Meghalaya, the Naga People's Front (NPF) won in Nagaland and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M) returned in Tripura. It seems anti- incumbency is not an issue at least in the northeast...
As far as Tripura is concerned, there is practically no alternative to the Left. In West Bengal, the CPI (M) was ousted and the Trinamool Congress came to power in the last state election. But one year later, and people are repenting. It's the same with Tripura. Besides, the Congress has no leadership in Nagaland. As far as Meghalaya is concerned, the state never had a stable government for the past 35 years. It was expected that there would be a fractured mandate, but it is true that we never thought that we will perform so badly.