Election Commissioner of India H.S. Brahma’s stand in such cases is well known. He stresses on the overall cleaning of the election system in the country and maintains that India can become a mature democratic country, only when it is able to bar criminals from contesting elections.

Champion has declared while he will contest the 2013 election,  his boys now in their hideouts will come out to openly support the Congress party. This announcement is certainly a bolt from the blue, which has stunned the political circles and the people. The Congress initially did not come out with any formal reaction. While leaders of other parties were quick to react, the BJP general secretary Dipayan Chakraborty says “It clearly indicates that there is something behind the scene.”

The United Democratic Party (UDP), coalition partner in the Congress-led government in the state, has sharply reacted with the party’s Secretary of Shillong city unit, A.F.Dkhar saying “The cat is out of the bag and it is free for all to see”. Also the newly formed Nationalist Peoples Party (NPP) leader Conrad Sangma expressed his surprise as he said “I have  never heard of such a thing before”.

Members of the ‘Clean Politics’ campaign headed by Ardent Basaiawmoit, should be taken aback by this declaration and announcement made by Champion, as the people in general are caught in a web of confusing as they are to elect their representatives in a few months time early next year. As it is the GNLA is a banned outfit and it would be more than embarrassing for the Congress party, which has announced that it would fight the elections alone and also claimed that it will form the next government on its own. The party would, therefore, need to start the election process with a clean sheet to be the champion at the hustings, without any extraneous tag or label.

In a subsequent development, the United Democratic Party, General Executive Committee in a meeting had taken exception to what is termed as ‘government’s preferential treatment to Champion. The party spokesman Paul Lyngdoh, said, “That the state government’s laxity in taking action against the GNLA chief Champion R. Sangma, had confirmed the nexus between the militant outfit and the congress”. Accusing the congress led government for giving ‘preferential treatment’ to the GNLA chief, Lyngdoh said, “The lack of firmness on the part of the government to take tough action against the chief of a terrorist organization, is evidence enough that some Congress leaders are having nexus with the rebel outfits”. The UDP Central Executive committee would also oppose Champion R Sangma to contest the 2013 elections, as the party opposes the move of any individual with a criminal record to enter into politics as those defeats the very purpose of democracy.

On the part of the government it has become a ticklish issue, whether firm steps should be taken including booking Champion under the Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act, while the GNLA Chief is still under judicial custody, in which the court had again given extention for the fourth time, to another 14 days and that charges leveled against him, would be taken up by early October, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, for waging war against the state, under Section121 (A) and also Section 16,18 and 38 apart from Section1 and 2 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.

As the controversy around Champion is raging, Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee chief  D D Lapang has come out with a statement that at no stage the Congress has entered into any negotiations with the militant to support the party in the forthcoming  assembly elections. The MPCC chief, said that the party was also immune to rhetoric aimed at maligning of what he called the party’s impeccable time tested ideals, principles and values.

According to Lapang the issue in question is purely confined only to the domain of debate and deliberations in the Press and that the party has no knowledge whatsoever on the matter. Although he added, that in a democracy, freedom of speech and expression of opinion is a reality and perhaps some groups still fail to grasp, in the light of electoral fever overpowering their reasons. He said that the party distanced itself from any controversy that might have been generalised on the matter.
In the initial stages after the arrest of Champion, press persons had spoken and interviewed Champion, who had made startling announcements to contest elections and supporting the Congress party. But since September 25, the GNLA chief was kept out of reach of the Press persons while in the court. The police official escorting Champion told reporters, that strict instructions had come from higher ups, not to allow Champion to speak to the media. Therefore, the earlier freedom the press had in speaking to Champion was taken away, possibly to prevent Champion to spill out more interesting information.

There is, however, another angle to the statements made by the GNLA chief, that as he had found himself in a tight corner and may be convinced of the charges made against him, he was taking recourse to shelter himself under the political umbrella and involving himself and his followers in the ensuing assembly polls, by joining the bandwagon.

The rival militant outfit in Garo Hills, the Achik National Volunteer Council-B, had, however, urged for instituting an enquiry into the alleged nexus between the GNLA chief with politicians of the ruling congress.

A political complicacy has, however, shrouded over the whole matter. It greatly rests on the judicial outcome, that a clear picture can emerge.