The stand-off between the Government and pressure groups has caused severe problems to the common man. There is a sense of unease in the city compounded by the ubiquitous traffic jams on account of the traffic spill-over. The Shillong-Guwahati highway has once again become a trap for passengers travelling between the two cities. Although the pressure groups have called the road blockade from 7 PM in the evening, people tend to feel a kind of restriction in their movement and this is an infringement of a constitutional right. It has been the practice that when pressure groups want to put the government on the mat it is the ordinary, daily wage earner, the petty shopkeeper and the person who earns a few pennies from serving tourists who come visiting, who is afflicted.
Most academic institutions holding regular seminars or workshops have had to keep their programmes in abeyance because of the prevailing uncertainty. Learning from past experiences many are of the opinion that the government will be held to ransom in this manner until the elections in 2013. There are too many groups and individuals wanting to fish in troubled waters. Young entrepreneurs just cutting their teeth in business find the present uncertainty very disconcerting because it means that their earnings are affected. It is ironic that the pressure groups led by the young do not seem to understand the problems of their own kind. Is it because leaders of pressure groups are themselves not entrepreneurs? If not, then what are their known sources of income? Or will they cut their noses to spite their faces? Will they hold the 30 lakh population of Meghalaya at gun point until the Government bends over backwards? The voter identity issue is not one that is likely to die down soon if the kind of engagement is what we are witness to. This calls for a pragmatic solution and the Government must have the spine to spell out its strategies to curb influx for this is not an imaginary issue. But as we have seen from neighbouring Assam, identifying an illegal immigrant is like looking for a needle in a haystack. So can Meghalaya come up with a fool-proof strategy? Not enrolling genuine Indian citizens as voters is not the solution. Some statesmanship is required at this moment. Unfortunately it seems to be sorely missing.