By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Jan 18: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) and the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) have not sought an appointment to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah but the Federation of Khasi Jaintia & Garo People (FKJGP) has.
The FKJGP is awaiting a communication from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) for a meeting with Shah.
The Home Minister is in the state on a two-day visit. He will attend the plenary session of the North Eastern Council (NEC) and a meeting of the NESAC society at the State Convention Centre on Friday.
KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah told The Shillong Times that they had submitted a memorandum to the Centre in 2018 highlighting various demands, including the implementation of inner line permit (ILP), inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, revocation of the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty and resolution of the state’s boundary dispute with Assam.
Thabah mentioned that they had, in due course, submitted another memorandum to the Centre when a delegation of various pressure groups and representatives of the state government went to Delhi to meet Shah.
He said they had also emailed their memorandum to the Home Minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The only reply we got was that they (Centre) will need to properly study our demands,” the KSU leader said.
He said it is apparent that the Centre is not bothered or concerned about the welfare of the indigenous people of Meghalaya.
He said Shah is now in the state to attend the plenary session of the NEC on Friday. He said he had seen it in the news that the Home Minister inaugurated a Cyber Security Operations Centre at the Assam Rifles headquarters at Laitkor.
“The Union Home Minister has not come to announce any special package for the benefit of the people of the state nor has he come to make any verbal assurance on ILP or the Khasi language,” Thabah said.
According to him, the only thing which the people of the state experience during the visit of a VVIP from Delhi is heavy traffic jam.
To a query, Thabah said they will need to devise a strategy on how they can pressure the Centre to fulfil their demands.
Meanwhile, HYC president Roy Kupar Synrem said they have not sought any appointment since there is no point meeting the Home Minister.
“It is just a futile exercise,” he said.
He also said that they have not taken any decision to stage a protest against the Centre’s failure to implement ILP, include the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution etc.
FKJGP president Dundee Cliff Khongsit said they are waiting for an official communication from the CMO on whether Shah is ready to meet them.
He said if they meet, they will raise the three issues of ILP, inclusion of the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and the state’s border dispute with Assam.