By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 16: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Tuesday said he had discussed both Inner Line Permit (ILP) and Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA) with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi recently.
He is hopeful that Shah’s proposed meeting next month with the pressure groups of the state will help achieve a positive solution.
“Deputy Chief Minister (Prestone Tynsong) and I had a positive meeting with the Union Home Minister in the presence of officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs. We had detailed discussions on ILP as well as MRSSA. We discussed that MRSSA is with us and we need to find out how we can start implementing it,” Sangma said.
Talking about the takeaways of the meeting, he said, “The Union Home Minister told us we need to ensure that a system should be in place to meet the objective but it should not cause any inconvenience to the citizens of the country.”
The CM said Shah asked the officials of the state and the Central governments to sit together and find a way forward.
“The Home Minister himself has asked us to work together and find an amicable solution of MRSSA. This is a positive move. Earlier, we were not able to move ahead in the discussions,” Sangma said.
He said when he had asked Shah that the various organizations would like to meet him, he said he would come to Meghalaya on a two-day visit and sit with them to understand why the issue is there and how it can be addressed.
“He would like to ensure the people of Northeast that identity, language and culture are important and whatever is required to be done will be done within the provisions of the Constitution,” the CM said.
He urged people to be patient and understand that these are issues which take time to be resolved.
“There are different aspects to it. We passed a resolution (on ILP) and are holding discussions with the Central government. The engagement will continue,” he said.
The pressure groups are livid with Shah for shifting the venue of his meeting with them from New Delhi to Shillong. They viewed his upcoming visit to the state as a delaying tactic. The Congress also criticized him for not coming clean on the demand for ILP’s implementation.