SHILLONG: The Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisations (CoMSO) staged a surprise protest on Monday taking out a march starting from BJP office and making a round of the office of the governor’s secretariat to protest against his statement on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB).
The CoMSO raised a hue and cry when the Governor, Tathagata Roy, supported CAB even as the state council of ministers declared their opposition to it.
The protesters then walked up to the Additional Secretariat parking lot and shouted anti-CAB, anti-governor slogans. The CoMSO also targeted BJP minister AL Hek and BJP MLA Sanbor Shullai. BJP is an ally in the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA). Some of the slogans they shouted were “Sanbor Shullai down down”, “AL Hek down down”, “Governor, down down”, “We want ILP”.
Some of the placards read, “Respect our identity or leave us alone”, “We don’t want your communal CAB”, “We want ILP. No ILP, No rest”, “Governor, step down”.
The Additional Secretariat was surrounded by police personnel, magistrates and later Superintendent of East Khasi Hills, Claudia Lyngwa also held talks with the protesters in which CoMSO chairman Robert June Kharjahrin and other leaders were also present.
They later shifted to Motphran. After several minutes of rest, they made their way to the monument in Motphran and walked around it shouting slogans again. Taxi drivers, commuters, shopkeepers were certainly not prepared as the CoMSO sprang a surprise.
Soon, some of the leaders started speaking and urged the commuters to pay heed to their agitation against the CAB. They raised their voice against the CAB and demanded the implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) and for the governor to step down.
CoMSO secretary general Roy Kupar Synrem urged the people to actively participate in the agitational programmes to oppose the CAB and to support the North East-wide protest called by the North East Students’ Organisation (NESO) on Tuesday starting from 5 am to 4 pm.
Member of Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC), which is part of CoMSO, Donboklang Kharlyngdoh, termed the CAB as a plague which will affect the entire indigenous community.
“The governor is a puppet of the BJP. He contradicts what the council of ministers in the state has decided. The governor has till date not given his assent to the ordinance”, he said.
Shouts of approval from the crowd rend the air when Kharlyngdoh said, “We did not want you (Roy) here. It is time for you to leave the state immediately. We don’t want your communal CAB”.
He said that the ordinance of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act which has provisions of ILP will protect the state from the two lakh people who will seek refuge in India under the CAB.
Other members of the CoMSO stated that the agitation will be intensified in the coming days till the governor leaves the state.
Jaintia Students Union (JSU), Shillong city, leader Treibor Suchen said that the laws of ILP falls in the hands of the people irked at the delay of the Governor who delayed in giving assent to the Bill.
Meanwhile, the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) in the evening burnt the effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah at Jaiaw near Dinam Hall. Shouts of protests against the CAB and against Modi and Shah filled the air.
