Meghalaya Chief Minister has made it a routine to meet Union Home Minister, Amit Shah to persuade him to grant the Inner Line Permit (ILP) to Meghalaya. Before Christmas, the Union Home Minister sent the Meghalaya CM and his team packing and told them to ‘go enjoy Christmas.’ Before the Delhi elections, the same group was told to come back after the ballot boxes were sealed.
The BJP took a real hit in Delhi and got only 8 out of 70 seats. After that Amit Shah was in an introspective mood and wondered if the foul-mouthing of the AAP and the Shaheen Bagh protesters had actually turned people against the BJP. Amit Shah at the moment is indeed more circumspect and is unlikely to accede to any request from any state that could go counter to the interests of that state. Amit Shah is no political novice and far from being influenced by political correctness and populism. The BJP in Meghalaya as well as other central ministers who have visited the state have made their own assessments about the impact that a colonial instrument such as the ILP would have in Meghalaya. The BJP is keen to establish its hold in Meghalaya. It will assess what its patrons and overt supporters say about the ILP and will act after that shrewd assessment. If the ILP is seen to be more of a xenophobic reaction to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), then Amit Shah is unlikely to give his nod to the ILP.
Critics argue, “If Manipur can have the ILP, why not us?” Is Manipur a transit state? Where do you go beyond Manipur except to Myanmar? Is Meghalaya on the same footing as Manipur? The short answer is ‘No.’ Meghalaya is a transit state for Mizoram, the Barak Valley of Assam, Tripura et al and has been the capital of undivided North Eastern region. It is inherently pluralistic and that character cannot be changed. Does Manipur get the kind of tourist footfall that Meghalaya does? Again the answer is negative.
What we should be left wondering is why the Chief Minister of a state so dependent on tourism for livelihoods would press for the ILP. A chief minister is the first among equals. His decisions should be futuristic and in the long term interests of the State and its people. The question to ask is who is advising Conrad Sangma? The NPP think tank? Do they even have one? Is it the bureaucrats? Would they short-circuit the tourism entrepreneurship in the state that is just peaking? These are questions that need to be answered at the state level. Amit Shah must believe we are dimwits to expect to counter the CAA with the ILP.