SHILLONG, April 20: The demand for “prospective” implementation of the roster system is growing louder within the MDA.
After the United Democratic Party and the Hill State People’s Democratic Party, the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) on Thursday urged the state government to implement it prospectively.
PDF president Gavin Miguel Mylliem told reporters the roster system is a complicated and sensitive issue.
“The question is whether to implement it retrospectively or prospectively. We understand that the High Court of Meghalaya recently passed the ruling to allow the Legislature and the Executive to frame policy matters which will be in the best interest of the state,” Mylliem, who is also an MLA, said.
Stating that it will not be feasible to go back to 1972 for the implementation of the roster system, he said he understands that the state is historically very weak in maintaining records.
“We also feel that it will not be proper to implement the roster system based on assumptions and without facts. It is because of this reason that we want the roster system to be implemented prospectively,” the PDF president said.
He mentioned that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has already stated the government will discuss this issue in the Cabinet, MDA and at an all-party meeting. He said the PDF will convey its position on the matter in the MDA and all-party meetings.
To a query, Mylliem said everyone understands that the review of the reservation policy is a very sensitive matter.
“I will urge the political parties not to try to gain mileage from this issue. We expect that the government will constitute a special committee to look into it as it involves many technicalities. The committee will deliberate in detail to have a consensus of each and every citizen and different communities,” the PDF president said.
He advocated the need to promote peace and harmony among the different communities, stating that there is a need to have some understanding but there should not be any attempt to divide the communities.
Mylliem said it is not proper to question the farsightedness of past leaders for agreeing to the resolution on the reservation policy adopted in 1972.
“We need to acknowledge the contributions of the statehood leaders which ensured the people of Meghalaya got their own state. We are aware that we got our statehood after a long-drawn struggle,” he added.
‘No discussion yet on merger offer from NPP’
The PDF chief said the party is yet to officially discuss the offer of the CM and the NPP leadership for its merger with the NPP.
“It is true the Chief Minister made an offer. He wanted us (PDF) to merge with the NPP immediately after the declaration of the results of Assembly elections. However, any decision on merger will have to be deliberated in the party’s Central Working Committee as well as Central Executive Committee,” Mylliem said.
“We need to first deliberate this issue internally. We are not going to rush since it is not an easy decision,” he said.
Asked why the efforts for a government led by regional parties did not materialise, he said it was difficult to reach a consensus as too many parties were part of this move.
“We understand that different political parties will have their own ideologies and agenda. It was a humongous task since even the Congress and the TMC are part of the whole negotiations besides the regional parties,” the PDF chief said.
He said while the negotiations were on, the parties started leaving the group, one after another.
“Even the UDP, the architect of the move, had gone to support the NPP-led MDA 2.0 government. We also decided to join the MDA 2.0 since the effort for a regional parties-led government had collapsed,” Mylliem said.
He said the parties left the group as the conditions put by the Voice of the People Party were not acceptable to them. He said many other factors contributed to the collapse of the move.
