By Albert Thyrniang
Union Home Minister, Amit Shah was on a two day visit to the state on July 24 and 25. Much was expected from his high profile visit but the outcome was disappointing. It was a damp squib for many!
On Inner Line Permit he had nothing to say. He did not give any commitment whether ILP will be implemented in the state or not. There was no assurance absolutely. This had left the pro-ILP groups fuming, their hopes of seeing the state under the ILP regime, dashed to the ground. Ever since the Legislative Assembly, in its special session, adopted the resolution on December 20, 2019 recommending the central government to bring Meghalaya under the colonial law to counter CAA, the cry for the same has been very loud, courtesy a series of agitations. Ministers camped in Delhi in the beginning of 2020 for appointment with Shah but failed to make any impression.
Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong returned home and informed the public that the Union Home Minister himself would visit the state to understand the situation via a detailed discussion with the stakeholders. The promise was never sincere. It was never kept. It was a mere delay tactic unsuspected by the state government and especially by the pro-ILP groups. The second most powerful person in the country came to Shillong on January 23, 2021 but the pressure groups were politely pushed away after the photo-ops of them handing their memoranda to the guest were done with. Since that humiliating experience, demands for immediate implementation of ILP has been simmering. To calm tempers down the state government again invited Shah to visit the state again. The lieutenant of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi did come. The pro-ILP pressure groups pinned their hopes on his second visit in less than a year. Alas! It was not much of a difference from the first visit. After the 15/20 minute audience, the man who was the force behind CAB/CAA, kept completely mum leaving the pressure group leaders disgruntled.
Introduction of ILP in Meghalaya is, of course, not a simplistic decision. The crave for it is perhaps unnecessary too. The state is already shielded against CAA by the Sixth Schedule. The discussion should have been on portions of non-Scheduled areas in Shillong city being included in the Sixth Schedule. Another matter that makes Meghalaya unfavourable to ILP is because of its transit nature. However, for the Union Home Minister not to explain the reasons for the refusal to cover the state under the British era law is unacceptable. The ILP leaders termed the silence of Home Minister an insult to them and to the 60 MLAs who said ‘yes’ to ILP two years ago. ILP may be unsuitable for and unnecessary in Meghalaya but a clear clarification is required. It is only just. It is a minimum respect to the people of the state.
The C&RD Minister, Hamletson Dohling revealed that Shah promised to look into the matter. If the Home Minister assured so, why did he not utter a word to the pressure group leaders? The state minister is only attempting to pacify the agitating leaders. Anyway, the present C&RD Minister has understood that being in government is different from shouting from the side lines. The minister was the general secretary of the KSU in his activism days. Leaders of pressure groups are impatient. They want quick solutions. We have heard them scream how the Harijan Colony can be solved easily in record time but when they become ministers they realise that things don’t work the way they want.
One gets the impression that that the MDA government is no longer keen on ILP. No aggressive pursuance was seen. No posturing was visible. Perhaps the MDA does not want to offend the NDA. The Chief Minister and his colleagues want to be in the good books of Prime Minister, Modi and his aides. But has friendship worked? Not with regards to the ILP. If the question is asked to the ministers and legislators from the ruling coalition they take refuge by pointing to the unanimous resolution. But do they have personal convictions about the necessity of ILP? Even the BJP MLAs may, by now, not be too convinced about the ILP.
The Union Home Minister launched the Green Sohra Afforestation Campaign and inaugurated the Greater Sohra Water Supply Scheme at Sohra on Sunday (July 25). Perhaps, it was for the first time that a government function was held on Sunday in the Christian majority state. No wonder it landed in controversy with a politician and religious leaders raising the red flag saying the programme could have been fixed on any other day. On the face of it, there is nothing wrong in organising an official function on a Sunday. Good can be done on Sundays. But one suspects that the Sohra event was intentionally arranged. It was to diminish the importance of Sunday, the most significant holiday for Christians. If Sunday was unavoidable then there is nothing to be worried about but if the plan was to disregard the Christian community then we have to raise our voices. The Hindutva ideology has infiltrated into the MDA government. It is now accepted that the Chief Minister of Meghalaya has shared values with right wing circles. His party the NPP is branded as a camouflage of the BJP. But the fault is not only with the Chief Minister alone. Why did the other ministers have no objection to the Sunday ceremony?
In other parts of India migrant Christians work on Sundays. If they don’t they lose their jobs. Thus in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore etc Sundays are working days in hotels, restaurants, banks, malls and other services. And there are a lot of migrants from Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and the other North Eastern states working in these cities. To tell them that it is a sin to work on a Sunday is inhuman and ungodly. Keeping Sunday holy is not merely attending Church. To bring the rule that we should not earn on Sunday is also insensitive.
In a village that this writer has recently been to no one is permitted to open their shops on Sundays. If they do so they are fined. Their religious zeal is admirable. But one personally knows that a couple of the petty shop keepers struggle to have a square meal on Sundays because they can’t earn anything. Even as I tried to cope with this harsh reality I suddenly realised that I, as a religious leader, ‘earn’ mostly on Sundays. Then who am I to vouch for a ‘no business policy’ on the ‘Day of the Lord’? But it does not mean I propagate work on Sundays. It does not mean I disrespect those who consider the ‘rest’ day significant. Per se the Sohra function on a Sunday was fine. But if there is a sinister intention behind it, then it is problematic.
Another dissenting note against the public event was that it was held in spite of the fact that Churches are closed and religious gatherings are still banned. Even for funerals only ten attendants are allowed. Reports say that there were at least 60 vehicles for the event in Sohra. A religious leader vented his frustration on Youtube saying ‘if they (the law makers) organise functions is okay but if we the ordinary citizens do so it is not okay’. Many also pointed out that Amit Shah was photographed without wearing a mask during functions. The law makers are law breakers. Police personnel saluted Amit Shah but penalised people on the street for not wearing masks. Unfortunately there are two sets of rules in the state.
On a mandate from the Prime Minister himself the Home Minister also addressed the North East Chief Ministers and stressed on the need to amicably resolve the long standing boundary disputes Assam has with Mizoram, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. But no sooner had Shah concluded his stay when a skirmish took place in Iongkhuli village, Umling, Ri Bhoi district. The next day six Assam cops were killed and around 80 people injured in firing by Mizoram police in Lailapur along Mizoram-Cachar border. Even as the Home Minister lectured on cordial solutions the vexed dispute has escalated into full-blown confrontation. Assam and Meghalaya had agreed on a ‘give and take’ approach to redraw their boundaries. Do the two states have in mind which disputed areas in the border to ‘give and take’? If names do not come up then why agree on the policy? So this is easier said than done. To expect that the boundary row will be settled before Meghalaya’s golden jubilee is impractical.
Amit Shah did not come to endear himself with the people of Meghalaya. His next visit could be hostile. We might see boycott and black flags greeting his long convoy. But the central and state governments could be enacting a drama. ILP could be granted just prior to Meghalaya Assembly elections of 2023 so that the BJP, NPP and the allies return to power. Amit Shah could be a hero then!
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