Shillong, Sep 24: Tura MP Saleng Sangma of the Congress Party has disputed Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s description of the recent trouble at Maikhuli as part of a 50-year-old Assam-Meghalaya border conflict, saying the area had remained peaceful for decades.
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s recent remarks that the interstate border dispute was more than 50 years old and that recurring skirmishes made a permanent solution necessary, the Congress MP said longstanding disputes had existed in areas such as Langpih and Block I and Block II, but claimed the situation around Maikhuli and nearby areas was different.
Tensions arose in Maikhuli, in Ri-Bhoi, recently after a group allegedly from Assam fenced off and locked a village road leading to the local playground.
“Everybody knows about that conflict since the inception of Meghalaya, no doubt with Langpih and Block 1, Block 2. Since the inception of Meghalaya, there has been a conflict,” Sangma said. “But regarding whatever the Chief Minister was talking about, the Maikhuli thing, that Guwahati border, there has never been this kind of incident or this kind of chaos in this particular border area. I have never seen it.”
Sangma questioned the government’s decision to address the Maikhuli-Khanapara-Pillingkata area in the manner it had, alleging that the developments had created tensions in an area where communities from Assam and Meghalaya had previously lived peacefully.
“It’s wrong on the part of the Chief Minister to say that this has been lingering for 50 years. There was nothing there at all. That particular area was peaceful,” he said.
Sangma further alleged that the government’s handling of the border issue had resulted in greater uncertainty among residents. “Instead of calming the people, instead of bringing peace in those border areas, now people are living in fear unnecessarily,” he said.
He said people living along the border had previously maintained close relations despite being on different sides of the interstate boundary. “In Meghalaya, in Garo Hills, I’ve seen lots of households where the toilet will be on the other side of Assam and the main house will be on the other side of Meghalaya. But yet, they live in peace,” Sangma said.
Questioning why the Khanapara-Maikhuli area had become a priority, he said the recent tensions were a relatively new development.
Sangma also criticised the government’s claim of having settled six areas of difference in the first phase of the border talks, with another six to be addressed in the second phase.
“Government can claim anything. But looking at the scenario, looking at the situation, it has created more chaos,” he said, adding that the government’s approach had contributed to tensions in areas that he claimed had previously remained peaceful, including parts of the Garo Hills. “This is new, created by this NPP government only,” Sangma said, referring specifically to the Maikhuli area.
