SHILLONG, June 1: Voice of the People Party (VPP) president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit on Thursday said he was satisfied with what they had set out to achieve and ended his 10-day fast on a victorious note.
Scores of people cheered as Basaiawmoit’s wife fed him a spoon or two of solid food marking the end of the hunger strike. Prayers were offered and patriotic songs sung as the crowd cheered in jubilation.
The “people’s victory”, as the VPP termed it, came after the NPP-led MDA 2.0 Government succumbed to mounting pressure and notified the constitution of an expert committee to review the Meghalaya State Reservation Policy of 1972.
The development comes less than 24 hours after the re-constituted Committee on Reservation Roster resolved to urge the government to constitute an expert committee to review the job reservation policy.
The committee notified will consist of experts in constitutional law, economics, sociology, demographic studies and related fields. The names of the members will be notified later by the government.
The expert committee will undertake a review of the reservation policy by obtaining views from all stakeholders and conducting field visits to all parts of the state.
“I had said from the beginning that I will not leave this place unless the government decides to review the job reservation policy. Since the government has sent a letter to me, which is the notification that an expert committee will be constituted, we feel that we have achieved what we asked for. It is right on my part to call off this indefinite hunger strike,” the VPP chief said after ending his fast.
“The government has already announced the constitution of an expert committee and we want the government to pursue it during the pendency of the review of reservation policy,” he said, making it clear that the expert committee has to work in a time-bound manner.
Basaiawmoit reiterated his party’s commitment to “waging a war” against corruption and “wasteful expenditure” by the government that badly affected the state exchequer.
“We will be officially writing to the government to terminate all chairmen, co-chairmen and consultants who are a burden on the state’s resources,” he said.
He maintained that the VPP is not against any community but wants to bring in a reservation policy that is fair and just.
“Our intention is not just to concentrate only on the Khasi Hills region. The VPP is a state party, so we will be going to Garo Hills to explain to our Garo brothers that we want to bring in overall development in the state and not in a particular region,” he said.
On the recruitment process which has been kept in abeyance, he said, “This is why, it depends on the government how to speed up the process of reviewing the present reservation policy. The government should apply its wisdom.”
Asked how he endured the hunger strike for 10 days, he said, “I have completed 221 hours and I have strong faith. I trust completely in God. Whatever I do is not for my personal benefit; it is for the benefit of the people of the state as a whole. I feel God listened and gave me the strength to sustain myself.”
“Our protest and our fight will continue. We will keep on discussing and we will see at the right time what we should do,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of the re-constituted committee and Law Minister, Ampareen Lyngdoh said the committee, during a meeting held on Wednesday, had taken up discussions on the opinions expressed by its members on the policy and its applications in the state and the members of all political parties felt that the government must allow a healthy discussion.
According to Lyngdoh, the members of the re-constituted committee, who attended Wednesday’s meeting, strongly recommended the formation of an expert committee to study all aspects and observations made by the political parties on the job reservation policy.
“It would be correct to believe that this is a matter of concern raised by all stakeholders. We substantiated enough grounds for the government to review the reservation policy. While doing so, the committee yesterday sent an advisory to the state government, and the government, after reviewing the minutes of the meeting, is pleased to notify accordingly,” the Minister said.
She added the government will ensure that no one is allowed to dictate terms to this independent committee.