SHILLONG: As many eight organisations took out a peaceful march in the city on Monday to oppose the State Government’s move to bring a fresh bill to empower traditional bodies.
The eight organisations led by the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) began the rally from Motphran and marched till the Additional Secretariat demanding immediate revoking of the ordinance passed by the State Government to empowering traditional bodies in the State.
The organisations, however, did not get the opportunity to meet Chief Minister Mukul Sangma as he was not in town.
The East Khasi Hills district administration made elaborative security arrangements throughout the city in view of the rally.
During the course of the rally, they urged all sixty MDCs of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC) to resign en masse in protest against the failure of the chief minister to respect the ADCs and the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
HYC general secretary Robertjune Kharjahrin said they will further intensify their agitation if the Government does not revoke the ordinance.
While making it clear that they would not succumb before the Government, the various organisations said they would talk only with the chief minister himself and no one else.
“We are clear that if we are to talk on this issue, we want to have a face to face talk only with the chief minister but not his ‘peons’ who are just voiceless cabinet ministers,” Kharjahrin said.
The various organisations also slammed the Congress party for issuing tickets to two non-indigenous candidates to contest the upcoming elections to the GHADC and warned that a time would come when they would agitate not against the Government but the Congress party.
