SHILLONG, May 14: The Voice of the People Party (VPP) is likely to announce a fresh round of agitation on Monday if the NPP-led MDA 2.0 Government fails to comply with its 48-hour ultimatum to issue a notification putting on hold all ongoing recruitment processes till the issues of roster system and Meghalaya State Reservation Policy are deliberated upon threadbare and resolved.
The deadline for the ultimatum ended on Sunday.
When contacted, VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said the party is yet to receive any response or communication from the state government.
Basaiawmoit said they will announce a series of agitation on Monday to pressurise the state government to comply with their demands.
The VPP on Friday had formally submitted a letter to Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, in absentia, through Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar seeking a review of the job reservation policy and a halt to the ongoing recruitment process.
Prior to the submission of the letter, the VPP president had said that the absence of the chief minister and the deputy chief minister (Prestone Tynsong) was an insult to the VPP.
“We did not know that they were this scared of the VPP,” Basaiawmoit said.
He had also made it clear that the VPP was not against the Garos.
Basaiawmoit said that they want to ensure that this policy should be reserved proportionately, according to the population structure of the state.
“We will not take away the rights of other communities and we are not asking the government to do away with the reservation policy,” he had said.
The VPP president had also stated that the present job reservation policy should be rectified so that it addresses the grievances of the local indigenous tribes of Meghalaya (Khasis, Jaintias or Garos) and not people from outside the state.
The roster system and the reservation policy have become hotly debated issues with political parties and pressure groups in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills demanding that it be put on hold until the reservation system is reviewed.
However, groups based in the Garo Hills have warned against any tweaking of the reservation policy, arguing that their backward region has been deprived for more than 50 years since statehood.
