SHILLONG: The previous Congress government suggested an alternative to Inner Line Permit (ILP), but here is a Congress legislator who supported the ILP demand while raising the issue of influx.
While moving the amendments to the Motion of Thanks to the Governor’s Address, Congress legislator from Mawlai constituency, PT Sawkmie said, “ILP is the best solution to curb influx. We cannot compromise with our identity. If you and I will be dominated by others, where will we go?”
Referring to American President, Donald Trump’s quote, “America first,” Sawkmie said, “We should also say Khasi, Jaintia, Garo first. We are to protect our own people.”
It may be mentioned that the present government, Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) led by the NPP Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that ILP cannot tackle the issue of influx.
On the other hand, Sawkmie termed the vision document of the MDA as “poor policy vision document.”
He added that the government was also not serious about the completion of the construction of the new Assembly building.
Speaking about the Village Administration Bill (VAB) which is still pending with the Central government, he said, “Government should do something about it.”
Stating that the present MDA government has a close relation to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and comparing the abbreviations, MDA and NDA, he said, “The difference is only M and N.”
Based on the above notion, he said that the MDA and NDA should work together.
Sawkmie also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said, “Talk about the poor and ending in the poor. In reality, there is nothing.”
He was pointing to the reduced supply of rice, sugar and kerosene and asserted that under the erstwhile, UPA government, the supply of rice, sugar and Kerosene was sufficient for the people.
Terming the GST a disaster, he said that the Modi government did not spare even the tribal from paying tax.