SHILLONG, March 21: The Opposition Congress Chief Whip, PT Sawkmie, has maintained that the Opposition is in the dark on whether or not Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assured Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to visit the State and discuss the ILP issue.
“We have to understand that the assurance given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah is not to all of us, it was a personal meeting with the chief minister. We cannot confirm whether or not he has given the assurance,” said Sawkmie while replying to a query on the assured visit of Union Home Minister to the state in March to discuss the issue of ILP with all stakeholders.
The Opposition Chief Whip reasoned, “If Amit Shah had given a press conference, it would have been clearer.”
Stating that when the chief minister announced Shah’s proposed visit to the state, the Opposition believed it undoubtedly, adding,“The best thing to do is to leave it to the government and waitfor Shah’s arrival”.
KSU to continue fight for ILP
Meanwhile, the KSU, who have been spearheading the movement for ILP implementation for decades, is also unhappy with the delay and unavailability of clear-cut information.
Recalling the last statement on the issue made by the chief minister that Shah will re-visit Meghalaya and meet all stakeholders, KSU president, Lambokstar Marngnar said, “Now it is already March 21. Maybe the Union Home Minister is applying delay tactics as I have mentioned before”.
“We were hopeful that Shah will re-visit but till now nothing has happened and there is no communication from the Centre and especially the State Government on the matter,” Marngnar said.
“We have decided that the democratic movement to pressurise and express ourselves to the Government of India with regards to ILP will continue,” he added.
It may be mentioned that the state government recently informed that it has not yet received any communication from the office of Union Home Minister Amit Shah on his assured visit to Meghalaya this month.
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 the chief minister 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 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.
Shah latershifted the venue of his proposed meeting from New Delhi to Shillong much to the annoyance of pressure groups.
