By Jerome K Diengdoh
However, some sections of intellectuals had nursed an apprehension that since it has been endorsed as a policy its fresh makeover may be as challenging as seeing a light at the end of the longish dim tunnel. It can be arguably stated that virtually all the MLAs of Garo Hills will never budge an inch from the extant percentage share of the existing Reservation policy as any suggestion thereof is bound to hit the rock; every viable option will be explored to run down the ongoing agitation spear headed by the VPP.
From the very inception of Meghalaya as a State in 1972 with the earmarking of job Reservation policy some far-sighted citizens had harboured a foreboding that the same could in the ultimate analysis end up in convulsions. Incidentally, from the mid 1970s several Hynñiewtrep youth job applicants have been disheartened and none too happy with the formulated policy in question as it stands as a bottleneck for the pursuits of profession and academic developments notwithstanding notching respectable marks in their scholastic fields given that Khasi-Jaintia communities are stuck up to only 20% apiece in the Reservation policy whereas the Garos are blessed with 40% alone. This has become a faultline amongst these ethnic tribes! For around fifty years the Khasi-Jaintia tribes have borne in their heart of hearts the disgruntlement of the flawed Reservation policy. The grievances had been bottled -up in them and the wounds allowed to fester until the dramatic appearance of Ardent Basaiawmoit, who wanted to walk the extra mile by being ready to selflessly undergo extreme sufferings in order to impel those at the helm to review the more than fifty years redundant policy. Basawiamoit has envisioned that time has become overdue to resort to a ‘do or die’ or ‘now or never’ movement for the sake of jobless youths, or as written by a Latin poet, Horace, ‘Carpe Diem!’
However, some sections of intellectuals had nursed an apprehension that since it has been endorsed as a policy its fresh makeover may be as challenging as seeing a light at the end of the longish dim tunnel. It can be arguably stated that virtually all the MLAs of Garo Hills will never budge an inch from the extant percentage share of the existing Reservation policy as any suggestion thereof is bound to hit the rock; every viable option will be explored to run down the ongoing agitation spearheaded by the VPP. There is no gainsaying the fact that all the political parties, except VPP and to some extent the HSPDP, do not want to stick their necks out on this issue as the slightest of attempts to review the Reservation policy will be suicidal at any future event of election in Garo Hills. Hence, they have per se avoided this critical issue as a sacred cow! A recent palpable case in point was that of Saleng A Sangma, MLA of Gambegre, who advanced a viable suggestion on Reservation policy but was given a severe dressing down by his co-tribes.
Hence, several discerning citizens have opined that perhaps there are two remedial options to bring the ongoing Reservation imbroglio to a maintainable solution. First is to approach the Apex court for a biding conformance for good! However, the Supreme Court (SC) is bound to be guided by the premise of the Indra Sawhney Vs Union Of India case in 1992, where the former has duly ordered that any state’s job Reservation policy earmarked for indigenous populace ought not to cross a 50% ceiling. In a word, if an appeal is made to the SC an identical injunction will be passed; some of my Garo and Hynñiewtrep friends have surmised that the sum total of this 50% Reservation may be further severed as : 20% for Garos and 15% apiece for Khasi-Jaintia applicants Accordingly, this 50% ceiling was endorsed by the 9- judge Bench. Years later some State governments driven by populist agenda have attempted to circumvent the SC order by upping job Reservation quota for the locals. Now, perhaps the SC has grasped the Machiavellian strategy, and it may be sooner than later that the Hon’ble Court may effectively cope with such maneuvers!
The second viable option may perhaps be to bifurcate Meghalaya into two different states one for Hynñiewtrep state and the other for the Garo land. Incidentally, in one of my letters captioned ‘Lum Shyllong blunder!’ that appeared in this esteemed daily (ST May 12, 2022),it recalled the Hynñiewtrep founding fathers of Meghalaya – the likes of GG Swell, BB Lyngdoh, Hoover Hynñiewta, SDD Nichols Roy etc. who had mechanically accorded the said controversial Reservation policy without a forethought, only to leave behind a legacy of despair of their future burgeoning jobless youths. Herein, I have pondered that such a bifurcation can be a win-win situation for both the communities
No wonder, the ongoing agitation spearheaded by VPP on job Reservation policy may have created an antagonism of sorts between the Hynñiewtrep and Garo tribes, hence, it may be not an outlandish suggestion if the foregoing contentions are taken into reckoning by the public of Meghalaya.
Hence, several discerning citizens have opined that perhaps there are two remedial options to bring the ongoing Reservation imbroglio to a maintainable solution. First is to approach the Apex court for a biding conformance for good! However, the Supreme Court (SC) is bound to be guided by the premise of the Indra Sawhney Vs Union Of India case in 1992, where the former has duly ordered that any state’s job Reservation policy earmarked for indigenous populace ought not to cross a 50% ceiling.