By Sujan Bhattacharyya
The Inner Line Permit (ILP) has become the latest plank for creating jingoism, and all sorts of lawlessness, vandalism and hooliganism, in Shillong. Questions haunting the minds of the people of Meghalaya, especially of the state capital, and all those who have been following the recent ugly turn of events in Meghalaya closely from outside are galore. What is the ILP? Can the ILP really serve the purpose that its advocators have been vouching for i.e. act as an effective tool in the hands of the state administration for curbing illegal migration of so-called non-indigenous people into the state? Or, is it merely a disastrously long retrograde step for a state that has been languishing as a resource-strapped, central aid-dependent entity with issue after issue for more than four decades ever since its inception in 1972? Is Meghalaya, as many have always feared, actually emerging as a rare monster fighting its own progress and welfare?
The ILP, which is an official travel document issued by the Indian government to allow inward travel of an Indian citizen into a protected/restricted area for a limited period, is meant to regulate movement to certain areas located near the international border of India. The mechanism has failed in curbing the influx of illegal immigrants but, quite expectedly, turned out to be a major retarding force jeopardising development of the three states where it is in force: Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.
Is the 10-plus group comprising the Opposition, the pressure groups, and the student bodies so stubbornly advocating implementation of the ILP in Meghalaya truly serious about safeguarding the identity and interests of the state’s indigenous tribes? Or is it merely acting in its own interests, as is obvious from the mindless way this prolonged agitation has been unfolding?
Every time the agitators announce a bandh or an office-picketing or a road block, the livelihood of the so-called indigenous “aam admi” or the state’s economy at large suffer a hell lot, educational institutions and banks remain closed, attendance in government offices, including civil secretariat, thin out, and transport services are affected. Contrast this bleak picture with the vibrant one where several other states of India in the north, the west and the south, which once were as backward as the north-eastern states, have, only in the past 5-10 years, progressed at a breath-taking pace, riding on a galloping, confident new-age India.
As the Meghalaya government made its stand against the British-era ILP as a failed mechanism to combat influx and illegal immigration into the state but promised a stronger legislation, the Tenancy Bill, to fight the menace, the Opposition would do well to relent, for now. Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, in reply to a resolution in an early October assembly session, promised: “We will enact the Meghalaya Regulation of Landlords & Verification of Tenant Bill, 2013, to regulate the stay of outsiders, especially the ‘floating population’, in the state to tackle influx and illegal immigration.” He earlier averred: “The concept initiated during the British rule (the ILP) has outlived its efficacy.”
What is wrong in exploring other “effective” mechanisms for preventing illegal migrants from settling in the state if any of them serves the purpose more effectively and, at the same time, does not pose a threat to peace and communal harmony, and stability, of the state, as well as become a stumbling block in the process of its long overdue development?
Take a cursory look at these data relating to the damage caused to the state’s only industry its citizens are still proud of, tourism & hospitality. Former state home minister and chairman, Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum, RG Lyngdoh, pointed out Meghalaya could generate only Rs 75 crore revenue from tourism, just a fraction of Goa’s Rs 10,000 crore tourism industry, but the pro-ILP stir has made a dent into even that over the past few months. According to a very conservative estimate by industry sources, during the Durga Puja festival, from October 9-15, 2013, which is just a fraction of the entire ILP stir-struck 5-6 months, the footfall in the hotels and guesthouses in Shillong plunged to 1,500-2,000/day from the usual 5,000-6,000/day during any such festival. As a result, industry sources claimed, the total loss by 100-odd hotels/guesthouses at an average room rent (ARR) of Rs1,500 comes to a staggering Rs 2.10 crore just for the week under consideration. The scenario in Sohra was worse: the footfall during the October 9-15 week plummeted to 400-500 compared with the usual 5,000-6,000.
Meghalaya’s rural economy, which feeds on urban consumption, has remained another major victim of the ongoing pro-ILP stir. From Asia’s ‘cleanest’ village Mawlynnong to ‘wettest’ place on earth Sohra, a hit among tourists, have ceased to attract visitors. So, the local economy, which just picked after decades of troubled times and negligence, has taken a serious beating. A Mawlynnong local who runs a small stall said, “90% of us eke out our livelihood from tourists. We have been devastated by this agitation.”
Further, as reported by this newspaper, the Meghalaya government’s loss due to the loss of man-hours alone stood at Rs 25.94 crore, while the state’s total loss, including damage to public and private property, came to over Rs 31 crore.
Now take a different perspective to this whole ILP mania. Each time there is a protest against the government’s policies or democratic establishments in Meghalaya, why on earth does it become so necessary for the protesting groups to put the heads of the state’s large number of non-tribal communities either living here for decades or visiting as mere tourists into the guillotine? Are they perennial “sacrificial lambs”?
Let us take a cursory look at just a few instances of the heat the pro-ILP stir has inflicted upon the proverbial “sacrificial lambs”: The 34-year-old Shillongite Marwari businessman, Vikash Nandwal, who after a petrol bomb attack was shifted to Guwahati and then to New Delhi for treatment, finally succumbed to his injuries. It is relevant to mention here another instance of genocide in the context of a larger picture of such recurring attacks on the non-tribal communities on different/not-inter-connected occasions in the state, the maternal uncle of Nandwal, Prem, was also shot dead near Bara Bazar in broad daylight in 1992. More recently, a tea stall owner in the city after such a beastly attack is fighting for his life. Are these killings or attempts to kill rational? Are these actions only to be verbally condemned and the deaths grieved and sympathised, in a routine manner?
The level of frequency and extent of such attacks can also be gauged from incidents like that of this particular Marwari family in which more than one member of a family have been massacred. A score of such incidents of arson, pelting of stones, beating up of innocent people, vendors and roadside shopkeepers, and attempts to kill have taken place, some of which have been covered by the local media. How long will this terror – of which only the non-tribals, irrespective of their backgrounds and allegiance to Meghalaya, are the victims – continue? Very surprisingly, the very large number of such cases of communal violence and genocide, at the drop of a hat, in Meghalaya since 1979, has virtually failed to draw any attention of either our central government or the national media!! Are the non-tribal/non-indigenous communities living in the state a special species to be always trampled, bullied and slaughtered?
Finally, looking at the larger picture, how long will Meghalaya and its denizens remain at the mercy of the pro-ILP agitators – and of more such caprices in the future – even as peace and tranquillity of the state is continually disturbed and the long overdue and much sought-after development process hampered?
( The author is a senior, national-level journalist and founder, t2t communication)