Editor
It pains me to see pressure being put on the streets for the Government of Meghalaya to take a policy decision. I had always assumed that in a democracy these decisions were taken after debating the issue on the floor of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. Yet, today, it is the common man, who has to earn daily wages, who is once again bearing the brunt of this contentious tussle spearheaded by the pressure groups in the State. I do not belittle the angst felt in the streets when the youth see how our economic and demographic status is being threatened by influx from outside. However, allowing the present imbroglio to continue will only adversely affect the State even further.
My appeal is to our elected representatives who are sitting in the opposition benches. It is your silence that has aggravated the issue. I feel that all these movements, or advocacies, for policy changes in governance should be spearheaded by you, rather than by the pressure groups. It is you who should be demanding an audience with the Government to discuss these issues. However, you have abdicated your role and allowed the pressure groups to fill in the void created by your silence. You are the persons who have been elected by the people to take up their complaints and to find redress for their various grievances, not the leaders of these different pressure groups. Yet you seem content with taking political potshots from behind the pressure groups, while claiming that you do not have “power” because you do not sit in the treasury benches. How is it then that these different organisations have the “power” to talk on behalf of the people? Your inactivity has turned our democracy into a ‘mobocracy’, where a few are trying to pressurise their will on the silent majority! I sincerely hope our electorate, including the different pressure groups, will put pressure on their elected representatives, especially those in the opposition, to take their roles seriously.
Let this debate on the ILP be taken up in the correct manner, which is a discussion with the Government led by our elected representatives. We cannot allow mob rule or lawlessness to take over the streets. We have seen where that had led to in the past, and we should not allow it to recur. Again, I do not pass judgment on the cause, I only feel the leadership and the procedure should be sorted out and improved upon.
Yours etc.,
RG Lyngdoh,
Via email
II
Editor,
A minority group like the Khasis has the natural right of protecting themselves and their identity. In this regard the uncontrolled influx into the state must by all means be checked. However, in my opinion there has to be another type of customized mechanism other than the ILP to achieve this without hampering the State’s image and development. Introducing the ILP will definitely affect vital sectors which generate income for the State. One such sector is education. Shillong, known as the educational capital of North-east India, will be badly hit by the ILP. Students from other states will be deterred from pursuing their studies here. This will affect not only our economy but our “good image” as well. Another sector which will be affected is Tourism. As we all know, tourism is a major enterprise in our State and if properly tapped it can generate employment and substantial income for the State. With the introduction of the ILP, the flow of tourists will be drastically curtailed. Thus we will be cutting off the very life blood of our State. The threat of influx comes primarily from immigrants who seek jobs and business opportunities here. These are the people and not the students or the tourists who are a matter of concern for us. If a mechanism is in place to check the inflow of immigrants who come here for such motives that would be the right step. I am afraid that ILP might become another tool of corruption. There are persons who might take advantage of such a provision in order to enrich themselves. All said and done, no law will ever succeed unless persons who implement them are honest, dutiful, just and committed.
Yours etc.,
B. L. Mawrie,
Via email
III
Editor,
I want to draw your attention to three simple laws that were passed by a majority population with regard to the minority.
Law 1: By decree, the transfer of immovable property between members of the minority population is forbidden and transfer from minority to members of the majority population is to be State regulated.
Law 2: By decree, all businesses owned by the minority population are to be shut down or transferred to members of the majority population. Law 3: The freedom of movement of the minority population is to be curbed and regulated by a permit. They are not allowed to purchase immovable property or settle down in the area decreed to belong to the majority population.
I am sure these three statutes sound very familiar to readers and have resonance to the ILP issue that has gripped our state. Only catch is all these decrees were passed by the Reich Ministry in 1938. The majority population in question are Nazis and the minority, as should be clear to anyone with a brief knowledge of world history, are the German Jews. The reason given for these and many other similar laws was that the Jews were responsible for depriving the majority population of economic opportunities and diluting/threatening their cultural identity. Does this sound too familiar for comfort now?
Not so far back in the past – to be precise, August of last year – the country witnessed large scale exodus of North-eastern students from Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and other states. The ‘rumours’ circulating attributed this ethnic targeting as backlash of the Assam Bodoland violence. But the hate-mongers incited crowds and stoked fear by citing one very simple reason – the North-easterners are coming to our lands, settling down, diluting/threatening our culture and robbing us of economic opportunities. The same rhetoric again, is it not?
Of course, if the ‘think-tanks’ and self appointed guardians of Meghalaya’s cultural heritage have decided that an eye for an eye is the way to go about it, then there is no scope for debate. However, if that is not the case, then there is a serious need to look at how essential is the demand for ILP? Evoking Draconian laws to sort out the problem at hand is never an answer, as the Chief Minister has opined. No one denies that Bangladeshi immigrants are a genuine problem. But one has to ensure that the existing machinery is implemented to the fullest before drastic stop-gap measures are adopted. One cannot pressurise the government with silly charades of ‘bandhs’ and ‘hunger strikes’ to meet their demands. Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out in his Democracy in America, a government is only as good as its people, and its people only as good as their morals, and those morals are sourced from their religion. I do not believe that any of the existing religions in Meghalaya prescribe segregation. The chain of logic thereby dictates that the government has to look at the problem without segregating people into different classes, which the ILP is bound to do.
As for the threat to cultural identity and economic opportunities, the indigenous population is still the majority one by miles and nowhere in history has the majority population’s culture been wiped out by the minorities. Economic opportunities should be based on merit if holistic growth and sustainable development are to be achieved. As such logic dictates that the well-meaning NGOs and groups demanding ILP should focus on education. As per the 2011 census, the average rural literacy in Meghalaya stands at 69.92% while the urban literacy rate is 90.79%. Focusing on bridging this gap might solve a lot of issues. Or probably bridging the gap might not allow debates like the ILP to foster. It is up to the people of Meghalaya to decide.
Yours etc.,
Debojit Das Purkayastha
A concerned Meghalaya now based out of Mumbai