Recently Congress leaders in the state have alleged that the proposed interactive session of Rahul Gandhi at the University of Science & Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) in Ri-Bhoi district was cancelled because the Meghalaya Govt. was powerless against pressure from New Delhi and Assam.
However, USTM itself has now come up with a clarification on its social media handles where it was stated that permission was denied to the Congress by local administration due to noncompliance with the requisite formalities, thus, the USTM was left with no other choice but to cancel the event.
The authorities of the said university further stated that they received no instruction or message from any other authority outside the state of Meghalaya to cancel the program in the manner that a section of social media and a news portals reported the incident, labeling it as a rumor that is factually inaccurate.
Earlier, addressing a spontaneous and massive gathering of students outside the USTM University campus last Tuesday from atop his bus, Gandhi said, he was supposed to address the students in the university. But, he told the students, the CM office Assam called university authorities that he (Gandhi) must not be allowed to address university students.
He said it was not important whether “Rahul Gandhi comes or doesn’t come, but what is important is that you are allowed to listen to anybody that you want to listen to”.
Later, Assam chief minister took to 'X' platform sharing a video of Rahul Gandhi saying, "What a man he is- the event is held in Meghalaya, but he is abusing Assam."
Meanwhile, BJP Meghalaya urged the Congress and its leaders to kindly be honest once in a while and if that’s too much of a task, at least maintain dignified silence.
In a statement, the BJP Meghalaya said, “This suppression of the truth and giving an altogether new spin to reality has always been part of Congress guide to politics. Propaganda is their rule book and yet they fault everyone else about it. It’s a party that never seems to tire of screaming ‘dictatorship’ when mentioning the BJP and conveniently forgets its own wrongdoings down the years. Remember emergency? Remember the act of invoking Presidents rule and dismissing legitimately elected state Govts at Central whims and fancies? The narrative of stifled voices propagated by the Congress conveniently overlooks their own history of muzzling dissent. In their heyday, the party has been notorious for suppressing internal voices that dared to question the leadership.”
The BJP also questioned how a party with such a legacy could now claim to be a champion of democracy and free expression.
“The Congress would do itself a service by realizing that in the ever-evolving political landscape, people are becoming increasingly discerning. The Congress's outdated tactics of orchestrating a spectacle every five years with ill-informed speeches and distorted representations no longer resonate with the public. Times have changed, and citizens are demanding transparency, accountability, and genuine commitment to democratic values. Reason why, the people of India continue to choose the BJP in election after election. As they say - ‘satyameva jayate’, the truth will finally prevail, this USTM incident stands testimony,” BJP Meghalaya alleged in a statement.
