SHILLONG, May 19: The VPP on Friday staged a walkout from the all-party meeting on roster system and announced an indefinite hunger strike from May 23. But contrary to the VPP’s dissent, the TMC and BJP as well as the Congress were satisfied with the government’s presentation at the all-party meeting.
The hunger strike will be staged by the president of the party, Ardent Basaiawmoit. The VPP has decided not to be a part of the committee on the roster system announced by the government on Friday. It demanded a review of the reservation policy.
Basaiawmoit said the VPP members had staged the walkout as the government was not willing to discuss the reservation policy.
However, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma questioned the logic behind the VPP’s actions. “I fail to understand where the VPP’s logic is coming from. First, they were talking about all the issues. Now, when we are clarifying (to them), they are bringing up another issue,” Sangma said.
“Almost all political parties have understood what the government is doing…There are challenges and there will always be, but the process we are following and the way we are thinking of moving forward is something almost all political parties, including the Opposition, have appreciated. They are seeking some clarifications but, in principle, they have understood how to move forward,” the CM said.
He said it is the VPP’s political decision to stage the hunger strike.
“We need to understand that we are responsible to the state and the people. There are certain areas and subjects that have the potential to harm communal harmony and affect the state’s unity,” Sangma said.
“Everything is not about politics. We have to realise that we have to be responsible as leaders to ensure that the safety and security (of people) and harmony in the state goes forward,” he added.
“We are lucky to have our own state and lucky that policies like reservation have been working in our favour for last many years,” the CM said.
He said one needs to introspect and be able to take the right decision. “We are looking at situations that could cause disharmony in the state and affect the overall reservation policy if some wrong steps are taken,” Sangma said.
“…there are tough decisions to be taken and we are taking them. The political parties, which are here with me now, know the discussions and the concerns. We are trying to move forward by maintaining balance,” he further said.
Appreciating the government for convening an all-party meeting on roster system to dispel doubts and address concerns, the opposition TMC endorsed the government’s stand on roster system. “We had our doubts, we had our queries. One was that this was the best kind of positioning the government can keep itself considering the kind of data information and the 50 years behind us that had gone and if the roster has to be out in place, then this would be, I think, the best way forward to bring all the political parties on board,” said State TMC vice president, George B Lyngdoh.
Lyngdoh said that a decision will be arrived at by the government and a presentation in this regard will be made. On the basis of this, deliberations will once again take place, he added.
Talking about concerns over roster application in regard with education seats, Lyngdoh said, “Roster will not be applied. We had put this discussion forward and the government had clarified that for any higher and technical education seats, only the reservation will be put in place not the roster”.
The government agreed that the retrospective effect would be to understand the various positions of the posts across all departments but all recruitments will be done prospectively, he said. “…that was demanded by our party, and that will be done”.
Pointing out that there some are departments which are already roster-ready and some that are not, he said, “We urge the government that these departments should also be taken into consideration at the earliest, and they be made roster-ready based on the data available.”
Meanwhile, TMC leader Zenith Sangma stressed that all stakeholders should be taken on board.
Meanwhile, the State BJP was also satisfied with the roster system which the government intends to introduce.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP leader HM Shangpliang, who was the chairman of an internal committee of BJP on roster, said that the party is satisfied that the proposed roster system will benefit youths and also create more job opportunities for them.
“In line with other parties, we have all agreed that the roster system is satisfactory,” he said. “We are looking forward for the (proposed) committee meeting to be called,” Shangpliang added.
The saffron party, however, played safe as far as the matter of reviewing the Reservation Policy is concerned. Shangpliang said that the issue has to be left to the wisdom of the government as “they are the best organ to decide whether policy needs review or not”.
The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee was also satisfied with the government’s presentation at the all-party meeting.
“The roster system, as directed by the High Court, has been put in place to ensure that the reservation policy that we have is implemented in letter and spirit, so we are very happy,” said Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ronnie V Lyngdoh after the all-party meet.
Lyngdoh said the chief minister had clarified that there will be no discrimination.
“We have been assured that there will be no discrimination against any community. This misconception has been removed. …we are working for the interest of our younger generation to ensure that our youth have faith in the system,” he said.
The Congress had earlier cautioned the state government against acting in haste on a sensitive issue like the job reservation policy.
Asserting that he was concerned about the problems of Khasi-Pnar job seekers, Lyngdoh said even Garo youths will have their own aspirations of getting good jobs. “We need a balanced decision that would benefit everyone,” he added.
