Leaders of political parties in the present government have decided to take their case for implementing the Inner Line Permit (ILP) to Delhi. This once again lends credence to the contention that Delhi does not pay heed to demands by the people of the North East. Delhi is the nerve centre of Indian politics and the North East is furthest in terms of physical and mental distance both. Whether the Inner Line Permit (ILP) is really needed at this juncture when there are enough legislations to protect the indigenous tribals, is debatable. However the political leadership and the pressure groups seem to have converged on the same idea – that the tribes need more protective legislations even if such laws hamper the economic and competitive edge of the state and its people in a world that’s rapidly trundling towards globalisation and interdependence. Competition sharpens the intellect and prepares the young to stand on an equal footing with the best minds in the country and even internationally. The indigenous tribals are already protected by the Reservation Policy. This has curbed the spirit of enterprise of successive generations of tribal youth and adults of Meghalaya and slackened their pace to push themselves to achieve what they can without the crutch of reservation.
More and more people beyond Shillong are now expressing their fears that tourism will take a plunge and deprive them of their honest livelihoods away from the government sector. They are also sceptical about the ILP solving anything at all. Many point to the fact that government is using the ILP demand as a cover-up for its failure to govern and to create economic opportunities for its burgeoning youth population.
Taking the ILP case to Delhi does not mean that the Centre will be pressured to give in. A Government that does not blink at the nearly month long farmers’ protest on a legitimate cause and also a Government that with one stroke of the pen revoked Article 370 in Jammu & Kashmir is unlikely to take a tame view of attempts at turning Indian citizens into foreigners in their own country. How the ILP was granted to Manipur is of course another matter and had perhaps to do more with the complex politics in that state where 35 % of its people comprising the tribal population claim exclusive rights over 90% of its land mass while the rest 65 % of Meiteis who are also indigenous but are considered non-tribals because of their religion occupy only 10 % of land mass.
Incidentally students’ groups from Assam are also headed for Delhi by March this year to press for the ILP in the state. With this, barring Tripura all the states appear to believe that ILP is the antidote to the CAA. By the look of things the ILP demand is going to be a long haul even as North Easterners camp at Delhi.