Meghalaya has a population of three million hence any far-reaching legislation cannot be pushed through by a few hundred people who have not thought through the issue and which is devoid of Constitutional backing. The Inner Line Permit (ILP) or the Eastern Bengal Frontier Regulation act of 1873 was first imposed by the British to safeguard their commercial interests. The British did not want any other Indian to compete with them as far as trade in tea and oil was concerned. It is interesting that the same Regulation was ratified in 1950 with the euphemism that it is designed to protect tribal cultures in northeastern India. The ILP persists in the states of Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. For tourists the ILP is issued as a matter of routine. However, for those seeking employment the issuance of ILP is stricter as this involves a longer stay. The groups trying to push for the ILP should bear in mind that the same was demanded by people of Manipur since 2018 but the Resolution passed by the Manipur Assembly has not yet received the assent of the President of India. It would seem, therefore, that the Union Government is not keen to expand the ILP formula to other states to further their protectionist agenda.
There is a genuine apprehension in the minds of many in Meghalaya that there has been a silent invasion by illegal migrants from across the Bangladesh border. The fear persists that people from the rest of India too might capture all opportunities in the job market. Reservation has weakened the resolve of the tribals of Meghalaya to compete on an equal footing with non-tribals for jobs and education. In 21st century India it is unlikely that the Union Government will acquiesce to demands that pit tribal Indians against other Indians. What was granted to Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh in the good old days of the Congress regime is unlikely to be handed to other states now under a dispensation that has hardened its stances on many issues, the latest being the abrogation of Article 370 which reduces the state of Jammu and Kashmir to a Union Territory. Recently we have heard of the push for a common language – Hindi across the states.
Be that as it may the idea of the ILP cannot be owned by a few pressure groups. It should be the demand of the people of Meghalaya and the exercise to elicit public opinion on the issue has to be carried out in right earnest.