SHILLONG:
Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma, on December 9, recalled Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s words that inner line permit will be there for the taking once the assembly passed a resolution in this regard, but that has not happened.
He said that the MDA government has actually betrayed the people of the state on ILP.
Harking back to the chief minister’s 2019 statement, he said the resolution was passed based on his assurance, “once we have passed a resolution it would be a matter of days to get the approval from Government of India. Wasn’t this the assurance of the government? With all expectations we were waiting and till now it hasn’t happened.”
The AITC leader said leaders of various civil society organisations in the state have tried to draw the attention of the government from time to time, including the attention of the Centre, through their representations whenever any of the Union ministers visited the state.
“But are they keeping their word, their commitment or are they just trying to play with the sentiments of the people? Now, therefore, it is natural for people to believe that the government of the day, the leaders belonging to the different political parties in the present dispensation has taken the people for a ride, ” he said.
Stating that the MDA has betrayed the people, Mukul asked whether the government had shown any sign of living up to its commitment. “ They have provoked the people to ask for ILP by supporting ILP in parliament and at the same time they have played with the sentiments of the people and have betrayed them. This is condemnable. It is not done in a democracy because what is promised is considered as binding responsibility on the people who are at the helm of affairs of governance.”
Mukul said the demand for ILP became louder and louder in Meghalaya and other states in the North East after the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) became the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019.
“Based on that we all as political parties collectively discussed that there was a felt need that under the changed circumstances post enactment of this new law which will have ramifications on the demography of the whole NE region, we agreed to adopt a resolution in the assembly,” he said.
He said the Government of India had bulldozed its way in the parliament by passing the CAA despite strong opposition from NE states that the law will have ramifications on the future demography of the region.
He further slammed the NPP for voting in favour of the CAB in the parliament.
“And unfortunately even the parties who are committed to the people of the state like the party which is leading the government in Meghalaya, the National People’s Party, they have a lone MP from Meghalaya representing Tura parliamentary constituency supported the enactment of that particular law as the whole discussion for voting of the Citizenship Amendment Bill was on, she voted in favour of the Bill. So there is complete reflection of what was probably a collective decision taken by NPP, BJP and their other associated and allied political parties against the collective resolve with which the people of the NE region were opposing this particular legislative exercise by parliament by BJP,” he said.