SHILLONG, Nov 15: In a strong reaction to Congress MLA David Nongrum’s diatribe against the autonomous district councils (ADCs), UDP working president and Jaiaw MDC, Paul Lyngdoh on Sunday said the Congress party has ruled the ADCs for a far greater number of years as compared to non Congress parties and if the Councils are in a state of mess today then everyone knows who is responsible for it.
Lashing out at the Congress MLA’s recent statement that the ADCs have turned into a liability for the state government, Lyngdoh said, “It is a highly irresponsible statement coming from somebody in a position of responsibility since the fact is that Meghalaya continues to be exempted from the CAA based on the sole consideration that a large part of the state comes under the Scheduled areas.”
Stating that when one speaks of the Sixth Schedule one cannot differentiate between the Sixth Schedule and the Autonomous District Councils, Lyngdoh said, “It is like throwing the baby along with the bath water. If you do away with the Sixth Schedule and the ADCs then CAA becomes automatically applicable to the whole of Meghalaya”.
Pointing out that the implications are so huge that only those who are “highly irresponsible” would make such statements, Lyngdoh said, “We have a law like the Land Transfer Act which, again, is applicable only in the Scheduled areas of Meghalaya and if you do away with the ADCs you also do away with the constitutionality and legality of the Land Transfer Act”.
The Opposition Congress MLA had earlier stated that the ADCs had been set up to protect and safeguard the culture, identity, land and resources of the indigenous people of Meghalaya which was then under Assam, but after Meghalaya attained statehood there was no need to continue with the ADCs.
Asked to react to this statement, Lyngdoh said, “It is a very whimsical way of looking at things and it is borne more out of ignorance of constitutional reality”.
He said that the Khasis were a semi-independent entity and it was partly in recognition of this fact that the Constituent Assembly debated and then approved the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.
The Jaiaw MDC further informed that although the Sixth Schedule does not fully meet the aspirations of the Khasi states which were semi-independent at that point of time but yet they granted a certain amount of autonomy even when the state was a part of Assam.
Lyngdoh also pointed out that Meghalaya became a reality in 1972 but the semi-independent status of the Khasis was in existence from times immemorial, and it became part of British India only because of the Treaty. “These are constitutional facts which one cannot overwrite,” he added.