Bill ‘passed in haste’ boomerangs; women’s group demands rollback
TURA: Be it India’s national political paradigm or its faraway Meghalaya’s political lingo, a common refrain seems to be politico India’s current coinage – controversial bills are the order of the day.
At a time when the GHADC seemed all set on a status quo, a customary law meant to protect the rights of the indigenous A’chiks has run into rough weather courting controversy and heralding subsequent collapse of the ruling dispensation.
A game of political one-upmanship seems to have given away to political hara-kiri and a bill ostensibly tabled to protect the rights, customs and traditions of the Garo community and supposed to dismantle a particular political foe’s fortunes seems to have boomeranged.
The war over the bill appears to be purely political given the tussle between the ruling NPP and the Congress in the State.
This is election year and there are no holds barred as the two rival parties — Congress and NPP — gear up for next year’s political hustling. Who has been the victor is a question debated by both sides.
Those opposed to the tribal status of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma have long been advocating for the bill and claiming that its absence has helped him politically. The victory of the NPP and its BJP partner in the 2015 GHADC election sought to weaken the Congress chief in the Garo Hills chapter.
With sheer brute force of 19 members in a House of 29, NPP and its allies had hoped to turn the tables on their arch rival Congress. They succeeded in getting the bill passed in the House.
But the joy was short-lived as the Congress staged one of its most audacious coups in the political history of Garo Hills weaning away a member of late P.A Sangma’s family, GHADC Chairman Boston Marak, into its fold.
What remains to be seen is whether the Congress government can prevent it from becoming an Act by stalling it from heading to the Governor for his assent.
A day after the passage of the bill, termed by a section of the Garo population as ‘controversial’ when it came to deciding the tribal status, there were rumblings within the community.
NPP led by Conrad K. Sangma has blamed the Congress, in particular Mukul Sangma, for the fall of the Executive Committee in the District Council and claimed it was engineered because the Customary Bill of the Garos does not address his ‘political interests’.
However, a group of Garo citizens who believe the bill is not transparent in nature have decided to oppose it. A group of women from Tura has formed the All A’chik Citizens Forum after a meeting on Friday.
They are agitating for the repeal of the bill and demanding it be put up in the public domain before any legislation takes place, something unlikely after its passage in the GHADC on Wednesday.
Questions have been raised over the haste in clearing the Bill with one section accusing NPP alliance of targeting the tribal status of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and the other claiming it was long overdue.
“There is no truth in claims that the target of the legislation was related to the tribal status of the chief minister. It is clearly mentioned that only those individuals married or born into a family having a Garo and non-Garo parent post commencement of the bill would not be considered a Garo,” said Augustine Marak, Deputy CEM and convener of the review committee that presented the new Bill in the House.
However, the convener of the first committee set up in 2005 to ascertain the Codification Laws has questioned certain laws of the bill.
Former historian from NEHU, Dr Milton S Sangma, was the convener of the committee overseeing the codification of the Garo customary laws.
“According to the traditional Garo custom, the power of adoption and marriage into a Garo family was left to the wisdom of the parents and the clan. This is the custom prevalent since ancient times and this bill undermines the power of the clan,” said Dr Milton Sangma.
“There are some who want a society having pure Garo bloodline. But is it possible in today’s world of globalisation?” questioned Dr Sangma.