Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Dear friends,

July 2012

By the time this July issue of Eastern Panorama is in your hands, the new President of India will have taken office. As we said in our last issue, it is good for NDA to extend their support to Mr. P. A. Sangma in the greater interest of democracy. Rightly our prediction has proved correct and BJP has extended their support to Mr. P. A. Sangma.

The fact remains that Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is far ahead in the presidential race if we are judging by numbers. In all probability, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee will be the next President of India barring a miracle for Mr. Sangma.

Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has been in public life for the last 5 decades and throughout this stint he has survived in the higher echelons of Indian politics without a blemish. He is as capable as Mr. P. A Sangma to hold the office of the President of India.

As categorically said by Mr. P. A. Sangma himself, miracles do take place in politics. The recent developments in the Presidential elections only indicate that this election is important because of its bearing on the upcoming 2014 general elections. Regional parties and the smaller parties are all trying to join hands to form a third front leaving BJP and Congress out.

We are giving so much coverage and tracking Mr. P. A. Sangma as all his actions are bound to have a reaction in the north eastern region. He himself has resigned from the NCP purely on the ground of honesty and has quoted the example of Subhash Chandra Bose for his frequent change from one political party to another. We have to wait and watch if there will be an NCP in the northeastern region after the Presidential elections are over. Will it merge with Trinmool Congress? A special report taking into account all these issues has been featured in this issue. We could not take an exclusive interview of Mr. P. A. Sangma as he was out of the north east region and actively campaigning of his candidature for the President of India.

However as a rare exception which deviates from our editorial policy, we have downloaded his interview with Mr. Vishnu Som from NDTV’s website which has been reproduced with a few cosmetic changes here and there. Whatever may be the outcome of the Presidential election, one thing is for sure - north east in general and Meghalaya in particular has come under the limelight which will help in generating better understanding of the region and better growth of tourism.

Dr. K. K. Jhunjhunwala