No word on Shah’s Shillong visit

SHILLONG, March 9: The state government on Tuesday said it has not yet received any communication from the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on his scheduled visit to Meghalaya this month.
He is expected to discuss the demand of implementation of Inner Line Permit (ILP) when he visits the state.
“There is no news yet but we are optimistic as he had assured us when we met him in New Delhi that he will come to Meghalaya in March on a two-day visit,” Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong said on Tuesday.
Stating that he has no knowledge on the date of the visit, Tynsong said the state government is eagerly waiting for a communication from the Union Home Ministry.
The state government has held several rounds of discussions with Shah on the ILP demand but the Centre has not yet made any commitment. The last of the discussions was held in February when Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had led a state government team to New Delhi.
Shah had visited Shillong for a day on January 23 but did not discuss the issue with the pressure groups and civil society organisations. He had subsequently asked the leaders of civil society organisations to visit New Delhi and discuss the issue with him.
Later, when he shifted the venue of his proposed meeting from New Delhi to Shillong, it made the pressure groups annoyed. They viewed it as a delaying tactic.
Opposition Congress has also criticized the Home Minister for not coming clean on the ILP demand. It asked the state government to convene a meeting with all political parties and stakeholders ahead of Shah’s visit and maintained that there should be no further dilly-dallying on the issue.