SHILLONG:
Five pressure groups on November 26 burnt effigies of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Meghalaya Home Minister Lahkmen Rymbui as part of their ‘Save Hynniewtrep Mission’.
The effigies were burnt near the chief minister’s official bungalow in the city.
The five groups were protesting against the failure to settle the boundary dispute with Assam that has led to loss of many a life with the last being at Mukroh village in West Jaintia Hills district when Assam Police personnel gunned down five residents of the village on November 22. An Assam forest guard was also killed.
The five pressure groups are Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC), East Jaintia National Council (EJNC), Jaintia Students’ Movement (JSM), Hynniewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) and Confederation of Ri Bhoi People (CoRP).
Even before the protesters set the effigies alight they entered into a heated argument with district administration officials over where they should do it. They wanted to burn the effigies in front of the chief minister’s bungalow at Polo, but were not allowed.
Later, the protesters were asked to carry out their protest in the middle of the road, just fifty meters away from the chief minister’s residence.
Even as the matter settled down, two police vehicles approached the venue at high speed and almost rammed into the protesters forcing them into another round of confrontation with police and the administration officials.
The situation, however, did not go out of hand as the police assured to take action against the two vehicles.
Before putting the effigies to flame, HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin said there was no fight between Khasis and Assamese, but against the failure of the three governments – Government of India, Government of Meghalaya and Government of Assam – to end the boundary dispute.
Kharjahrin said the firing incident could have been avoided if the MDA government had kept its promise to co0nclude the second phase of border talks with Assam within 45 days as per its recent notification.
“Instead of deploying adequate police force, the state government had already decided to demand a CBI inquiry (into the Mukroh firing incident) but don’t they know that the root cause of all this is the border dispute that has been lying unresolved for the past 50 years,” he said.
The HYC leader said the five groups also sent a clear message to the Union home minister and the 36 MLAs of Khasi-Jaintia Hills that they should start the second phase of border talks and resolve the dispute before the 2023 Assembly polls.
“We request Prestone Tynsong to stop listening to Conrad K Sangma and start taking the lead and ensure the second phase of border talks start. We also urge Amit Shah to ensure the border dispute is resolved before the election and ensure justice to all the five Mukroh residents who were killed in the firing,” he said.
Kharjahrin assured to extend full support to ensure that the border dispute is settled. “Headman of Mukroh has all the documents to substantiate the claim that the village falls under Meghalaya and we want Mukroh to be in Meghalaya forever,” he said.
Urging all to not communalise the border issue, the HYC leader said, “If the NGOs and people of Assam cross the line, we will also be compelled to do the same. This issue is related to border dispute which both the governments have to resolve immediately and not allow it to turn into communalism.”
He also condemned the authorities for preventing the groups from holding the protest in front of the chief minister’s bungalow adding that democracy didn’t seem to be alive in the state. “People of Assam can enter Meghalaya but here we are not allowed to protest in front of our CM’s residence despite it being constructed with public money,” he said.
“Time will come when people will kick you out of this bungalow if you cannot reolve the border issue before the election. If they can’t arrest the Assam police and forest guards involved in the killing of the innocent villagers, we may assume that Conrad K Sangma is also involved in the incident,” he added.