SHILLONG/ MAWKYRWAT, May 10: As the VPP keeps with its intention to take the issue of roster system to the streets, MDA Spokesperson and UDP leader Paul Lyngdoh has stated that the matter fundamentally belongs to the Cabinet and elected members to deliberate over, while also maintaining that it should be ideally left at that stage.
Lyngdoh was reacting to a query on the VPP’s threat to hit the streets along with the public demanding of the state government to keep in abeyance the recruitment process till the roster system is streamlined and reservation policy is reviewed.
“They are a political party with a certain agenda. Let them concentrate on that agenda. I am sure, as legislators, they won’t cross their limits and there will be no attempt to cause breach of peace, but at the same time, this is a matter that fundamentally belongs to the Assembly, cabinet, and elected members to deliberate upon,” he said.
Lyngdoh recalled that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had made it amply clear that post Sohiong election, the matter would be taken up at an all-party meet, as well as in the Cabinet and in consultation with various other groups across the state which are stakeholders.
The MDA spokesperson also assured that the government will discuss both the roster system and reservation policy as they are interlinked.
He however admitted that there are and there will be different opinions on the issue but after deliberating and listening to all, they will come to a point of synergy.
VPP movement gains support
Meanwhile, in Mawkyrwat, the movement of the VPP demanding a review of the State Reservation Policy on Wednesday gained the support of a large number of people from South West Khasi Hills as hundreds of people attending the public meeting at Mawkyrwat Market expressed willingness to be part of the movement.
Speaking at the meeting, VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said that the party has made its stance clear to the government that if it does not allow the matter to be raised in the Assembly, the VPP will take to the streets. “With the support of the people, I know that the government will have to surrender because this is a democratic country,” Basaiawmoit said.
The VPP president said that the High Court of Meghalaya’s ruling on the Reservation Policy has come as a major blow to the NPP chief and Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, who, he recalled, had once said that anyone who was unhappy with the reservation policy could challenge it in the court of law.
Basaiawmoit said that the VPP wants the government to immediately constitute a special committee to review the State Reservation Policy. “We don’t say that you should agree to all our views. In what way you rectify or how you rectify, we leave to the wisdom of the Committee. But what we expect is that the rectification should satisfy both the communities (Khasis and Garos) who are the indigenous people of Meghalaya,” Basawiamoit said, while adding that the present reservation policy as well as the roster system affect the rights of the Khasi youths.
The VPP chief called upon the people of Mawkyrwat and South West Khasi Hills district to accompany the party on May 12 as it submits a letter to the government demanding temporary suspension of all government job recruitments in the state until the reservation policy is rectified.
Other VPP leaders who were present in the meeting include North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum, Mawlai MLA Brighstarwell Marbaniang, and others.
