By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 12: Congress candidate from Laitumkhrah-Malki constituency, Manuel Badwar on Friday attacked the Voice of the People Party for pushing for implementation of Article 371 in place of the Sixth Schedule.
He warned the VPP not to play with fire and stop misleading the people on Article 371 as they do not understand the ramifications of such a legislation.
“It is not right to always provoke the innocent people who have limited power to understand and take the right decision,” the Congress candidate said while addressing an election rally at Malki on Friday.
Making it clear that the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution is better than Article 371, Badwar said the provisions in the Sixth Schedule are potent enough but the flaws lie in its implementation.
“It is wrong to say that the Sixth Schedule is weak. It is the way we implement it which makes it weak. We hope to strengthen the provisions of the Sixth Schedule further, if we are elected,” he said. (Contd on P-4)
Don’t play with fire: Badwar…
(Contd from P-1) Stating that people need to elect leaders who are capable as MDCs to further strengthen the Sixth Schedule, Badwar said most of the MDCs prefer to sit and do nothing after being elected.
He said that there are around 27 to 28 pages in the Constitution of India dedicated to the Sixth Schedule.
If the people read the Sixth Schedule properly then they will be able to understand that there is no other legislation that can give better protection to the local indigenous tribes of the state, he stated.
Pointing out that Article to 371 contains only a single page, he said that the people themselves can judge whether a legislation with 28 pages is better than a legislation with a single page or not.