As the State inches closer to the polls the constituents of the MDA seem to be getting at one another’s throats. The BJP is a constituent of the NPP-led, MDA Government, but BJP leader AL Hek has expressed concern about the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Assam and Meghalaya on the swapping of areas under dispute at the borders between the two states. What’s ironic is that the MoU was sanctified by none other than Union Home Minister, Amit Shah and has also got the blessings of Prime Minister Modi. The Prime Minister has in fact touted the recent mutually agreed settlement between the two states of Assam and Meghalaya as a model of good neighbourly relations which could be extended to resolving the disputes between Assam and Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Last year the border skirmish between Mizoram and Assam had threatened to turn into a civil war. Assam and Nagaland have indulged in cross border firing many times.
Within Meghalaya, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma sees the resolution of the long-standing border dispute to be a feather in the cap0 of the MDA Government with the HSPDP backing him up all the way. The UDP has been airing its views vis-à-vis the border dispute resolution but in a manner that reeks of ambivalence and a wishy-washiness that’s typical of a party that wants to be in the Government but has no spine to stand up for what it believes in because the spoils of power are far more attractive than the dog house. The People’s Democratic Front (PDF) has no MLA from the border areas and hence is silent on the border issue. In fact the PDF has been a silent partner and the most acquiescent.
It is in Garo Hills that the rancour against the MoU with Assam is most vehement because land is a precious commodity and ceding even an inch of land which is to have been part of Meghalaya ancestrally is a recipe for disaster. The NPP from all indications seems to have lost traction in Garo Hills with some even expressing their doubts if Conrad Sangma would still be elected from his Tura constituency. Such is the disaffection of the people of Garo Hills. But considering that the NPP has been playing around with the Garo Hills District Council, the agitation by the staff against non-payment of salaries et al, it is no wonder that the NPP has lost its sheen. Ironically the NPP which is seen as a Garo Hills based entity, now has more takers in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills. The Khasi Hills District Council where the UDP and NPP are partners, has meanwhile decided to go to court on the MoU with Assam even while the NPP MDCs have opted out of this decision. This lack of consensus on the border dispute resolution threatens to become a major election plank in 2023.
