Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha with the villagers of Kongthong
While many villages let alone remote villages are neglected and suffer from official apathy and neglect, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Rakesh Sinha has adopted the remote village Kongthong in Meghalaya. Sinha announced his decision to adopt the village on August 15, 2020 as the country observed its 74th Independence Day.
Kongthong known as the “whistling village” is a Khasi village having its unique culture and traditions but did not have proper facilities for living, education of children and access to outside world. Sinha had visited the village a year ago and made up his mind to do everything possible on his part to change the fortune of the place. He hoped that the state government would cooperate with him in lifting this village from the cycle of backwardness.
In an interview with The Shillong Times, Sinha said that the villagers deserved a better life and promised to mobilise additional resources from the governments in Delhi and Shillong for transforming it into a model village and tourism centre. He also said that villages like Kongthong have remained uncared for because of apathy of the state. “What shocked me is the lack of awareness of academics, intelligentsia and political class of Meghalaya too about their own great cultural tradition,” he said in the interview. “It is good to talk about great tradition” but that should not “obfuscate” the issues that plague the lives of the people”, he said.
Speaking on his vision for the village, Rakesh Sinha said that major obstacles that lead to stagnation of development was that the state was basically hamstrung by three factors: “corruption, red-tape and middlemen”. He has shared the same with Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and will also use his MPLAD funds to transform the village.
