The idea that Meghalaya and Assam should adopt a give-and-take policy in order to resolve their border dispute is illogical from a Meghalaya perspective, ex-MLA Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said today.
Although the recent meeting between the Chief Ministers of both states has given some hope to the people, Basaiawmoit said that it would not make sense for Meghalaya to adopt a give-and-take stance, as was stated by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma recently, as it had never intruded into Assam’s territory.
“We can never accept this because, in the end, it will be about giving away all our land without taking,” he said. “As indigenous people we should not be happy to see the boundary dispute resolved without also knowing the means.”
Basaiawmoit also questioned Assam’s sincerity, just days after Sarma met Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, a dispute erupted in Iongkhuli, Ri-Bhoi, where Assam police and district officials uprooted an electric pole and manhandled an MDC.
He also said that if Sarma is ready to say that his state will not take even an inch of Mizoram territory, then why the same yardstick is not applied to Meghalaya.
