Jowai South MDC cites Paragraph 12A, funding shortages and coal ban among key concerns.
SHILLONG — Jowai South MDC and former Jaiñtia Hills Autonomous District Council ( JHADC ) Chief Executive Member Moonlight Pariat joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday along with his supporters, saying he wants to use his position inside the party to push long-pending district council issues before the leadership in Delhi.
Pariat said several proposals concerning the autonomous councils had failed to move because political parties did not pursue them with enough force. He said joining the BJP would give him a direct route to raise the concerns of the councils with the party leadership.
“I joined because I have a plan. All our plans have failed. Now I want to be inside the party to apprise them of all the problems faced by the council, so that the message reaches the leaders in Delhi,” Pariat said.
He singled out Paragraph 12A of the Sixth Schedule as one of the major constraints on the functioning of Meghalaya’s autonomous district councils. Pariat argued that the provision leaves MDCs with limited authority when state laws overlap with laws framed by the councils.
“Our hands are tied. Paragraph 12A has tied the hands of all the MDCs in Meghalaya. We have a lot of thoughts in our minds, but due to 12A we cannot do anything,” he said.
Pariat also questioned the financial support available to the autonomous councils, comparing Meghalaya’s funding with that of autonomous councils in Assam. He claimed the Assam councils receive substantially higher allocations while Meghalaya’s councils struggle with limited resources.
“We are jealous of the Assam Autonomous Councils. They receive not less than ₹5,000 crore a year, while this Council in Meghalaya gets barely ₹200 crore,” he said. He further alleged that delays in Finance Commission grants had affected the councils’ ability to implement schemes, claiming an instalment covering the Finance Commission period beginning 2020-21 reached the council only after several years.
Pariat also raised Meghalaya’s coal ban, questioning the different treatment of coal mining on the two sides of the Kopili river.
“On one side of the river, Assam is taking coal, while on the other side of the same river, Meghalaya is banned. Why for Assam is it allowed and for Meghalaya it is stopped?” he said.
On his political alignment with the BJP, Pariat said he saw similarities between his own approach and what BJP leaders had told him about the party’s ideology. He said the party could help him pursue issues that had remained unresolved while he worked outside the BJP.
Pariat, a six-time MDC, won the Jowai South seat as an Independent candidate in the 2025 JHADC elections. He had earlier contested the 2023 Meghalaya Assembly election from Jowai on a UDP ticket before leaving the party later that year.
Meghalaya BJP president Rikman G. Momin welcomed Pariat into the party. BJP MLAs A.L. Hek and Sanbor Shullai, party spokesperson M. Kharkrang and other leaders were present during the joining programme.
