SHILLONG, Jan 22: Members of the KSU had skipped the celebration of Meghalaya’s 50th statehood in view of the state government’s failure to aggressively pursue major issues with the Centre.
KSU president Lambokstar Marngar said celebrating 50 years of statehood without addressing the core issues and demands carried no meaning.
“We rejected the invitation for the celebration. It did not mean we do not respect our leaders who fought for statehood but we feel it is useless to take part in the celebration as the pending demands are still lying in the Secretariat and Delhi,” he told reporters Saturday.
Pointing out that a number of issues and demands put forth by the people and the pressure groups have remained unfulfilled, Marngar said top priority should be given to implementing the Inner Line Permit (ILP).
Listing the issues, he said the KSU has always talked about the pending education policy, recruitment, the Them Metor issue, interstate boundary dispute and the establishment of a medical college. “We have to keep on pressuring the government. One of the most important issues is having a state university and it is high time the state government looked into this matter as we only have NEHU, a central university,” Marngar said.
Reminding the resolutions on ILP and inclusion of the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution were passed by 60 MLAs, he said: “We expect the state government to take these up aggressively with the Centre and get its stand on these issues.”
