He said he had the backing of only two MPs and a few MLAs from his home state but one incident that inspired him to fight the election was the memory of his first meetng with Bhola Paswan Shashtri in New Delhi in 1974.

Shashtri was then a cabinet minister in the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ministry. “At that time I had not began my political career and was one of the 10 reporters from Meghalaya who were selected by the central government for a tour of the country.

“It was Indira Gandhi who introduced us to Shashtri. I was surprised that she introduced us only to him and not her other cabinet colleagues. Later, she said that her cabinet did not have any minister from the tribal community as Shashtri belonged to the Schedule Caste. A meeting with him would inspire them and a message would go that a member from tribal community could also become a cabinet minister. Three years after the incident I became a member of the Lok Sabha,” he added.

Addressing the function the Chairman of the National Commission for Schedule Castes, P L Punia, said a large section of SC people were still living in poverty. As long as there is untouchability, discrimination and economic disparity in society, reservation would not be withdrawn, he said.

Punia said that not only did some sections of society disapprove reservation in promotion, even the judiciary had different opinions in this regard. He also alleged that the present NDA government was following a divide and rule policy in the state.