Lalita Marak, a resident of Malangkona, which lies along the West Khasi Hills-Assam border, feels betrayed by the Meghalaya government that willfully ceded its claim to the village in the first phase of border negotiations with Assam.
Lalita is steadfast in her refusal to be counted as a citizen of Assam. She and many of her fellow border residents affected by the March deal participated in a sit-in in Shillong today.
The agreement to conclude the first phase was signed earlier this year, to great frustration, anger and, yes, even a feeling of betrayal by many residents who wished to be part of Meghalaya but have now found themselves at the mercy of Assam.
The state government continues to tout the agreement as a success story. Only when pushed does it try to blame the previous Congress-led government for supposedly not including Malangkona and two others in a 2011 list of villages officially claimed by Meghalaya.
Lalita says that a majority of Malangkona’s population is Garo and if their views are considered then the village should go to Meghalaya. But the deal was signed without considering the will of the people, she claims.
The agreement is still not final in that the Survey of India is drawing the borders and then the whole deal has to be approved by Parliament. Lalita, the strong-willed individual, is ready to fight it all the way.
Yesterday, the Chief Ministers of Meghalaya and Assam began talks in Guwahati on the second phase, which is meant to deal with the more complicated areas in dispute. Given that the first phase elicited such strong emotions, observers cannot help but be apprehensive about what deeper, darker and more intense feelings are stirred as a result of the second.
Today’s demonstration by border residents was supported by pressure groups and a smattering of political hopefuls. Those present want the state government to scrap or at least review the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the two governments on March 29 in New Delhi.
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council is reportedly preparing to challenge the validity of the signed deal in court. So is an organisation called JACBOM (Joint Action Committee on Border of Meghalaya). A senior figure in one of the pressure groups at the sit-in, the Federation of Khasi, Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP), said that a legal challenge is a must as the people have been victims of a grave injustice.
He added that historical facts, ethnicity, administrative convenience, geographical continuity and willingness of the people were not taken into consideration before the deal was reached.
Deals can be signed in front of Union ministers in the national capital but the arguments between Meghalaya and Assam are rooted in the remote and neglected villages dotted along their disputed border and will not be easy to resolve, no matter what the Chief Ministers and their civil servants in Shillong and Guwahati think.
