Not Rich vs Poor – Just Lawful vs Unlawful
By Risador M Makri
Much of the current debate around the relocation of street vendors in Shillong has been reduced to a tired and misleading binary: rich versus poor. This framing is not only inaccurate, it is dangerous. It paints a picture in which small business owners, pedestrians, and citizens asking for order are cast as villains, and illegal encroachers are elevated to heroes of struggle. But are people who own small stores or sell merchandise in shops now considered “anti-poor” or “the richest” or “elitist”? That’s a ridiculous leap. Most of these shopkeepers are barely making ends meet themselves, paying rent, taxes, utilities, and staff wages. They follow the law, operate within legal frameworks, and contribute to the economy. To paint them as villains simply because they operate from within buildings instead of pavements is a lazy and dishonest generalisation.
Death of Local Commerce
The vendors who now resist relocation were, until recently, running stalls inside the very markets that are slowly dying. Shops in local markets are shutting down because customers cannot reach them. Why? Because the roads and footpaths are overrun by stalls that violate every safety and civic norm. In some cases, these very stall owners have abandoned their legitimate spaces and chosen street vending instead. This is not survival, it is opportunism, and it is strangling the economic future of the entire locality.
When Safety Is Sacrificed for Noise
When concerned citizens speak up; when we say that pedestrians matter, that children and the elderly need space to walk, that ambulances deserve a clear path, we are told we lack empathy. But is empathy a monopoly of those who shout the loudest? Angela Rangad, who once publicly decried the blocking of a particular ambulance by cars in Laitumkhrah, now remains silent as multiple ambulances are forced to maneuver through hawker-choked roads near hospitals that are blocked everyday. If she was outraged then, where is her outrage now? Angela, I invite you now to visit the road in front of Nazareth Hospital and see ambulances stuck behind layers of stalls and plastic tarps. Is the pain of the patient any less when the roadblock is a hawker instead of a car?
Misrepresenting the Law:
Some critics recently claimed that a law had been “misquoted” but what he fails to mention is that the interpretation in question is not only commonly accepted, but rooted in repeated court rulings and government action. He accuses critics of misrepresentation while cherry-picking only the points that suit his narrative. Instead of addressing the broader concerns, pedestrian safety, obstruction near hospitals, harassment of the differently abled, he dodges them entirely. Because those truths don’t fit neatly into his performance of moral outrage. And Section 10 (1) of the Street Vendors Act clearly states that those who violate the conditions of their vending certificates may be relocated or even suspended, with due process. Yet in Shillong, many vendors operate without any certificates at all, or have secured them through misrepresentation. When the Government attempts to verify these documents, it is met with hostility and threats. This is not dignified resistance. This is anarchy
The Majority Have Relocated Willingly
Let us also not pretend that the current opposition to relocation is purely altruistic. The loudest critics, many of whom hide behind anonymity, belong to organisations and circles with vested interests. Their goal is not justice, it is disruption. They do not speak for the average vendor, the one who has already agreed to shift. Over 248 hawkers are willing to move voluntarily to the MUDA complex. If it were truly a death sentence to their trade, why would they be willing to do it? The only people resisting the relocation are members of organisations with other interests; people who need a constant crisis to stay relevant. If the system works, they become invisible. So they fight, not for the poor, but for their own spotlight
Activism Without Accountability
What is being peddled as a people’s uprising is in fact the ideological theatre of a handful of “activists” clinging to outdated Marxist narratives. Lakhs of citizens across Meghalaya support the Government’s action because we are just tired of being told that wanting order, dignity, and safety in our own city makes us the enemy
Equal Misery Is Not Justice
There is nothing wrong in saying that unregulated vending must be corrected. It is not criminal to say that public spaces must serve all, not just those who shout the loudest.
Marxist ideology claims to uplift the poor, but in practice it often pulls everyone else down instead. If your solution to inequality is to destroy functioning systems rather than fix broken ones, then all you are doing is manufacturing poverty. We do not need a city of equal misery. We need a city of equal opportunity and that begins with law, dignity, and public order.