Staff Reporter

Shillong, March 15: United Democratic Party leader and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh has asserted the need for the state to strengthen its claim over the areas of difference with documentations which according to him are ‘powerful weapons’.

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“Well a lot of people can say a lot of things. Opinions are opinions. Finally, what matters is the truth. So how will we strengthen that truth or a claim over of that particular plot for instance? Documents, we need documentation nothing more,” Lyngdoh told reporters.

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“We can give all the best lectures at Motphran but finally what do you need, documents, maps, papers. Strengthen your claims with documentation then nobody can say anything, you’re armed with a powerful weapon,” he added.

His statement came as a reaction to the recent claim made by the Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that Mukroh village falls under the boundary of Assam and the subsequent rejection by Meghalaya deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong, who had reiterated that Mukroh is well within Meghalaya territory.

When asked, Lyngdoh said, “As I said I do not believe in empty rhetoric. We can claim a lot of things, they can claim a lot of our areas, that’s how the discourse of politics is being run in this country but at the end of the day what you need, you need to be armed with documents, so strengthen that.”

The UDP in its election manifesto had assured to review the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Assam in regards to the six out of twelve areas of difference.

To a query on this regard, the UDP leader said that the party will stick by the MoU wherever the state stands to gain.

“Wherever we stand to gain, we will stick by the MoU wherever we stand to lose we will get that particular area revisited. That’s our stand,” he maintained.