SHILLONG — Mawphlang MLA Matthew Beyondstar Kurbah says he is prepared to lose the 2028 election if joining the BJP protects what he calls the interests of the indigenous community. Principle, in this version, comes with a possible career cost he is willing to advertise.
Speaking after a public meeting at Mawngap on Thursday, the UDP legislator said he would have no hesitation in crossing over if the BJP delivers on the assurances given to the group of UDP MLAs.
“It does not matter if I lose the 2028 election if the community survives,” he said. The people, he added, would deliver their own verdict then. The statement manages to sound both selfless and carefully staged.
The list of demands is long and familiar: inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule, changes to coal-mining regulations, implementation of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, relocation of residents from Them Metor, and recognition or social-status benefits for indigenous faith organisations such as Seng Khasi and Seiñ Raij.
The group has also raised the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, the Inner Line Permit, amendments linked to the Sixth Schedule, and trade facilitation along the border. Kurbah was explicit. If the BJP promises and delivers, the UDP MLAs will join. The purpose, he said, is public welfare and development, not personal gain. The distinction is offered without irony.Constituency development is the more immediate complaint.
Kurbah said Mawphlang has seen inadequate progress since he was elected in 2023 and that he has waited for work that has not arrived.
“The pressure on me to join the BJP is for the development of the constituency because development work here is still very less,” he said. The remedy for insufficient development, in this reading, is a change of party.
He dismissed the suggestion that a switch would disturb relations between religious communities in Mawphlang, pointing to the coexistence of Seng Khasi followers and different Christian denominations and saying he had seen no hostility among them. Remaining outside the BJP, he argued, leaves him with little more than protest.
“If we remain outside, we cannot do anything. We can only hold black flags and stage dharnas.” Inside, he said, he would have a platform to speak if he believed the interests of Christians or indigenous communities were under threat. The choice is presented as influence versus irrelevance.
Kurbah remains listed as the UDP MLA for Mawphlang (ST). His statement adds another public commitment from the UDP camp to a possible BJP switch, while tying that switch to delivery on the demands.
The offer is on the table. The assurances have not yet been cashed. The election, conveniently, is still two years away.
