•Sudhanshu Khurana: Why don’t we see more young politicians who are not from political families?

Randeep Surjewala: I don’t think that is entirely correct. The media focuses on politicians who are somebody’s sons, daughters or nephews. There are at least 20 MPs who are nobody’s sons or daughters in politics. There are young politicians who are leaders in their own right, but our focus is too much on a Manpreet Badal, a Conrad Sangma, a Jyotiraditya Scindia or a Sachin Pilot. We refuse to look beyond, at other young leaders, perhaps because they are not media-savvy. But they are all wedded to the grassroots.

Shravan Sen: Conrad Sangma, when you talk about youth and merit how do you reconcile it with the fact that there is reservation in Meghalaya that gives preference to tribals?

Conrad Sangma: Personally, I feel that in a state like Meghalaya, there should be no reservation policy because the majority of the state is tribal and you end up giving reservation to them, when reservation was meant for a minority. But this is a political stand. From a general perspective I think it is unfair. That’s why I want the private sector to play a bigger role. I want to create jobs through the call centres and the BPOs. I personally have over 700 people working for me in Shillong—a sizeable number for the state. The Government has acquired about 100 acres of land, where we are going to build an IT estate. We have extended the airport, which is about 10 minutes away form this estate. We are developing a complete investment policy where we are giving up to 30 per cent capital subsidy to anybody who invests in IT and other areas.

... contd.