Mawhati MDC Marngar today lambasted his fellow members of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) who support the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Meghalaya and Assam governments to resolve the boundary dispute between the two states.
The deal has come under attack from several quarters, including the KHADC, for parting with several sections of land whose residents want to go to Meghalaya.
However, the MoU has been supported by the MDCs that belong to the National People’s Party (NPP), which is in charge of the state government.
Marngar particularly targeted and criticised Rambrai Jyrngam MDC Bajop Pyngrope for going overboard in his praise of the government under Conrad Sangma on the matter after he joined the NPP.
The border deal affects many people in the Pilangkatta and Marwet areas and Marngar fears that the owners will suffer as the land holding system differs between the two states.
However, Pyngrope stuck to his effusive praise for the state government.
“I support the MoU today and for years to come because for 50 long years this matter reached nowhere [but was solved] under the present government and we hope that the border differences are settled once and for all,” he said. “How can I not support the MoU when all the villages under my constituency fall under Meghalaya? I don’t know how much Marngar has made progress in the collection of the land records in his constituency,” Pyngrope shot back.
Marngar is of the Congress Party and Pyngrope (formerly of the same party) said that no progress on the border had been made even when the Congress ran the Meghalaya, Assam and central governments.
For the more contentious second phase of border talks, Pyngrope said that he led a delegation of traditional leaders from the Langpih area to meet the Deputy Chief Minister where the government was told, in no uncertain terms, that the people of Langpih want to be with Meghalaya.
Like Marngar, nominated MDC Bindo Lanong feared that Khasi landowners whose land now falls under Assam would lose ownership as per the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation 1886. Mylliem MDC Ronnie Lyngdoh worried that the Khasis affected by the MoU will even lose their tribal status now that they are part of Assam.
Calling upon all the MDCs to fully support the Himas who are opposed to the MoU, he said that Assam has started to claim ownership even at Ratacherra, on the border of Jaintia Hills.
“We have to be very vigilant to see that our government doesn’t take a decision in haste and say that in their time they were able to resolve this issue because this issue has to be resolved in the right way,” he added.
“Don’t compromise on anything at the cost of the Jaitbynriew and don’t play localised politics and think that only if your own constituency is fine you should ignore the other constituencies,” Ronnie Lyngdoh, another Congress MDC, said, with Pyngrope squarely in his sights.
He added that if Pyngrope says that all hardships have been resolved after 50 years under the present government he should also understand that this issue could not be resolved for the last 50 years because no one was willing to lose their land and hand over everything to Assam.
He also said that the council should support the Himas financially so that they can move court to challenge the legality of the MoU.
