Roster issue: Ardent to start indefinite hunger strike today

SHILLONG, May 22: Seeking to put additional pressure on the MDA 2.0 Government to heed to his demand for a review of the Meghalaya State reservation Policy, 1972, VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit is all set to start his indefinite hunger strike at 10 am on Tuesday.
Basaiawmoit told The Shillong Times that he will hold his hunger strike in front of the Main Secretariat.
He made it amply clear that he would continue with his hunger strike till the government agrees to review the reservation policy.
“I am not holding this hunger strike to pressure the government to call me for talks. Our stand is very clear — we want the government to review the policy,” the VPP president said.
Asked if party leaders and MLAs will join him in the hunger strike, Basaiawmoit said he will hold the indefinite hunger strike alone.
“We will see and decide tomorrow if others should join me,” he said, making it clear that his hunger strike is meant to secure a better future for the unemployed youth.
Earlier, the VPP president had said that he was forced to take the hunger strike route since the MDA Government was unwilling to discuss the need to review the “flawed” job quota policy.
He had stated that the retrospective implementation of the roster system would result in Khasi youth not getting any more government jobs in the next 50 years.
Basaiawmoit also said that his party is not fighting against any community as far as the quota policy is concerned.
“We are not against our Garo brothers and sisters. We will not take away their rights in any manner. We are only demanding our rights,” he 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.