SHILLONG, Aug 20: Three pressure groups of the state — KSU, HYC and FKJGP on Sunday said the Meghalaya Assembly should pass another resolution on the implementation of the inner-line permit (ILP) in the state and the inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah told The Shillong Times that the state government is expected to aggressively pursue these two demands with the Centre every now and then.
“The state government should take the voice of the people on these important issues to the Centre,” he said.
Reacting to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s statement that he cannot reply on behalf of the Centre on the status of the ILP, Thabah said it is the responsibility of the state government to know from New Delhi as “we cannot do it on our own”.
He said the KSU, 80% of whose members were arrested during the ILP agitation, has grown tired of issuing statements on the ILP since 2013.
Thabah said the state government should honour the sentiment of the people of the state who want the ILP. “It is needed to address the issue of influx,” he added.
HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin said the state government has tended to shift the onus on the Centre after passing a resolution on the ILP in the Assembly in 2019. “After claiming the matter is being examined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the government is now saying the Prime Minister is going through it,” he said.
He said the CM has never tried to inform the people what aspects of two issues the Centre has been studying for so long. He dared Sangma to take all the MLAs or leaders of all the political parties to New Delhi for extracting the Centre’s assent to the ILP and the recognition of the Khasi language.
“No one knows whether they (delegation led by the CM) actually discussed the ILP and the inclusion of the Khasi language during their so-called confidential meeting,” Kharjahrin said.
“There was no official communication from either the PM or Home Minister Amit Shah on what the CM and his Cabinet colleagues discussed with them,” he said.
FKJGP president, Dundee Cliff Khongsit said the state government should pass another resolution in the Assembly to remind the Centre about the ILP and the inclusion of the Khasi language. “The Manipur government had to pass four resolutions before the Centre paved the way for ILP there,” he said.
He said that had the Meghalaya government been serious about the issue of influx, it could have implemented the MRSSA that makes it mandatory for labourers from outside the state to renew their work permits every 179 days.
When asked about the delay in the Centre’s approval for the ILP, Sangma had said: “I cannot reply on behalf of the Union home minister or the government of India since the matter is under their examination. We have continuously put pressure on the Centre to find a way so that we are able to address this issue, whether it is MRSSA, ILP or other mechanisms.”
