Basaiawmoit accuses MDA govt of pushing youth to insurgency, suggests need to nvite HNLC for talks without preconditions

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaOctober 5, 2021

Former Nongkrem legislator Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit on Tuesday accused the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government of pushing the youth to insurgency.

“I can say without any doubt that the government of the day and its policies is pushing our youths more to insurgency,” said Basaiawmoit, who was appointed as president of the adhoc body of the newly floated regional party ‘Voice of the People Party (VPP)’ here.

Expressing his disappointment at the way the government is handling the law and order situation in the state, the former MLA said, “The failure of the government in its policies and failure in the way of dealing with the law and order seemed to have pushed our youth to insurgency which is very alarming in the state and very dangerous for the future of the state.”

He was reacting to the IED blast attempt by the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) at the NPP office in Lachumiere on Monday. Earlier, the HNLC had also planted IED bombs which exploded at Laitumkhrah on August 10 and Khliehriat police reserve on July 14.  

Terming the incidents as an intelligence failure, Basaiawmoit said that the government has to strengthen its intelligence and has to engage more personnel so that they can prevent and put a check on the rising cases of an attempt to place IED blast in many places of Shillong city.

“This clearly shows that the government has failed in its intelligence though the government claimed that they have enough intelligence to know about the plans but they cannot prevent the placing of bags or IEDs somewhere in Shillong like what we have just seen,” he added.

When asked about peace talks with HNLC, the former legislator said that he has been raising this issue ever since he was an MLA while asserting the need for the government to take one step ahead by expressing its concern and willingness to invite the youths without any preconditions.

“There is no need to have pre-conditions. First invite them without any conditions, get to know their minds, have a dialogue, get closer to them then it will create a conducive environment otherwise if you stick with your guns and demand them to come or call them with certain conditions and when you yourself fail to deliver on many fronts how do you expect that the youths will accept it,” he stated.