The border deal struck between Meghalaya and Assam is not for the benefit of the people but for narrow political gain, Mylliem MDC Ronnie Lyngdoh said today.
The state government has no right to transfer tribal lands to another state, the former cabinet minister told Highland Post.
The deal to resolve six ‘less contentious’ areas of difference between the two states has resulted in huge opposition in Meghalaya, from border residents, pressure groups, political parties (including those within the governing coalition) and the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council.
The KHADC is preparing to move court on the matter, though the MDCs belonging to the National People’s Party (NPP) have disagreed with this move.
Stating that the district council is there to protect the land and rights of the tribals, Lyngdoh lashed out at the NPP MDCs for compromising on their principles.
“The people should be wise and ensure that these MDCs who betrayed the jaitbynriew should lose the next election miserably. They have tried to turn the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and the district council into a joke,” he said.
Voting for “incompetent” people in the Assembly is bad enough, as it will affect governance and development, but making the same mistake in the KHADC will lead to the loss of Khasi land and destruction of customary practices, he warned ominously.
The government and the NPP MDCs are making a mockery of Meghalaya’s statehood, Lyngdoh added, as they are acting as puppets of Assam, the state that Meghalaya protested vigorously to split from 50 years ago.
He said that the agreement between the states should not only be revisited, as many are demanding, but abolished altogether because it was signed without the consent of the people.
