Meghalaya NGOs expresses disappointment over Shah’s silence on ILP demand

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 24, 2021

Pro-Inner Line Permit (ILP) groups on Saturday expressed total disappointment over the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s failure to make clear the stand of the Centre on the demand for implementation of the ILP in Meghalaya.  

Shah met leaders of various civil society organizations (CSOs) after chairing a meeting with the eight chief ministers of the North Eastern states at the state convention centre here.

The CSOs include the Khasi Students Union, Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People, Ri Bhoi Youth Federation, Hynniewtrep National Youth Front, Garo Students’ Union, Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organizations and others.

After the meeting, KSU president Lambokstarwell Marngar termed the failure of the Union Home Minister to give any assurance on the ILP issue as a “big insult” to the indigenous people of the state.

“…the Union Home Minister only listens to our submission on the ILP but there was no assurance or commitment on ILP which is a big insult against the people of the state,” he said.

“We only want the Centre to make its stand clear on the ILP issue but he did not say anything…This is also a clear indication that he does not respect the 60 MLAs of the state, who have unanimously passed an official resolution in this regard on December 19, 2019,” Margnar stated.

The KSU leader further informed that the NGOs would soon meet to discuss on the next course of action amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “We find a cure to this virus that has been affecting our indigenous community for the past many years,” he said.

FKJGP president Wellbirth Rani said this is the third time that we had a meeting with the Union Home Minister, the first being at New Delhi followed by the meeting held during his visit to NEC in January, earlier this year.

“Today we actually expected that he would give us some kind of an assurance which he failed to do. Therefore, we are not satisfied and not happy with the outcome of the meeting,” he said.

CoMSO chairman and HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin said, “We are very disappointed as we expect that he should at least tell us the stand of the Indian government on important issues like ILP and others but that did not happen as he was just allowing us to make representation. We want to know the stand of the Govt of India and why they are  not granting us ILP as they did for other states because even under this present NDA regime, ILP was granted to Manipur.”

Kharjahrin said he along with the KSU president had tried to put forward justification on the need to implement ILP in Meghalaya but Shah requested them to discuss other issues.

“We are not happy as he did not even tell us the stand of the union government and not say what will he do or the Centre do in the future – of course Chief Minister who was present in the meeting told us that they will examine the matter but it did not come out from the union home minister himself so we cannot take that into account,” he said.

Stating that the meeting was a big let down against the morale of the indigenous people, Kharjahrin however said, “We are not losing hope, we will try to come back stronger than this and that the Centre should listen to the aspirations of the indigenous people.”

Asked, the CoMSO chairman said that he assured that the fight will continue and it will be much stronger.

He also claimed that the CoMSO and other groups including the KSU are already together when it comes to ILP and other issues.

“KSU, FKJGP and others are demanding the same – the fact that we are not under one umbrella it does not mean that we are not together – We are together, the entire Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, the three ADCs and people of the state are together on this issue,” he said.

If there is any attempt to politicize the ILP issue, Kharjahrin however said, “I can’t say so whether they are politicizing the issue or not but to us the people who really need protection we would like to urge and demand that ILP and other important issues should not be politicized at any cost.