As the State government toughened its stance on the issue of job reservation policy, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) has called for a mass gathering at the Additional Secretariat parking lot here on May 19 to put pressure on the government on the demand for putting on hold all kinds of recruitment till the reservation policy is looked into properly.
Announcing this at a public meeting at the same venue today, VPP president Ardent M. Basaiawmoit said that May 19 being the day when an all-parties meeting would be held at the Secretariat, the mass gathering was required to show to the government and all political parties about the need to review and revamp the quota policy.
“The reservation policy should be based on demography,” Basaiawmoit said while also mentioning that the Khasi community has had a bigger population since 1972 when the policy was implemented till today.
The VPP chief also buttressed his points by referring to the population of the Garos and Khasis as per the Census from 1972 till 2011.
He also said that the Khasi community was not interested in taking away the rights of the Garos. “We are just demanding our rights on government jobs based on the population that we have,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today made it clear that the MDA government would not discuss the reservation policy at the MDA meeting tomorrow or at the all-parties meeting to be held on May 19. He also indicated that the issue would not be discussed at the meeting with civil society leaders to be held next week.
Speaking to media persons after the cabinet meeting, Sangma said, “We have not discussed the reservation policy and this is something which is not in the agenda that is coming up in the next few days. Right now, we are talking about the roster system and we are sticking to that.”
The chief minister informed that during today’s cabinet meeting, a detailed presentation on the reservation policy and the roster system was given to the cabinet.
According to him, after seeing the presentation, the cabinet was satisfied. He also said that the same presentation would be given at an MDA meeting which will be held tomorrow and at the all party meeting on May 19.
