VPP accuses Conrad K Sangma-led MDA Govt of betraying pro-ILP groups in Meghalaya

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJuly 23, 2024

Opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit on Tuesday accused the Conrad K Sangma-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government for betraying the pro-inner line permit (ILP) groups by passing a resolution to implement the ILP to free itself from the issue. 

Addressing media persons, Basaiawmoit said that he was not at all surprised by the recent statement made by the chief minister Conrad K Sangma that there is no such thing as a ‘work permit’.

“I am not surprised that such a statement have come from none other than the chief minister Conrad K Sangma why because I recalled the words he had spoken on the day he took over as the chief minister where he stated “let us not talk about ILP”,” he said.

He alleged, “These people doesn’t want any mechanisms or laws which will regulate (we are not saying to restrict movement of people) but to regulate the unabated flow of influx into the state becauseyou have seen our livelihoods have been snatched away by people coming from outside the state. Therefore, the people, who say we don’t want to talk about ILP are the same people, who are fooling the people of the state.”

Stating that the MDA government is guilty of fooling and betraying the NGOs, who are spearheading the ILP demand, the VPP president alleged that the MDA government had passed a resolution urging the Centre to implement ILP not with the intention to implement ILP but to totally free itself from the issue of ILP.

“Otherwise why did they (MDA) not demand from the Centre government that it should revoke the presidential order issued on the same day they sat for the Assembly to delete the words “Khasi-Jaintia” from the preamble of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR),” he asked while adding “I have spoken on this that the NGOs have been betrayed by the MDA government. Now, they (MDA) have free themselves from ILP issue and pass the buck to the to the Centre, it only shows that such people with that kind of mindset or mainstream mindset, will never think about the interest of indigenous people because they are being brought up outside Meghalaya, they will never understand the importance of effective laws to protect us.”

“So I am not surprised at all by CM’s statement but I feel pity for the NGOs that they have been betrayed and fooled by the MDA-I government by passing a resolution for implementation of the ILP but with no intention to implement it,” he further added.