The time has come for the North East to be more forceful in its dealings with the central government in New Delhi and turn its requests into demands, Meghalaya’s Rajya Sabha MP and state president of the NPP, WR Kharlukhi, has said.
Speaking yesterday, Kharlukhi stated that Delhi has often ignored the requests of the state, such as the calls for a local Vice-Chancellor for NEHU.
“In these few years that I was in Delhi, I have experienced that for such a small issue, where all three MPs have chased after the Centre to get a local VC appointed in NEHU, met concerned ministers and tried through the North East forum but Delhi never listened,” Kharlukhi.
He said that the same was the case for the Inner Line Permit (ILP), for which the Meghalaya Assembly passed a unanimous resolution in favour of but which the central government has not moved on.
Stating that one of the principles when the NPP was formed was how to bring unity among the North East people, he said, “Our target is not only to win in Meghalaya. In Nagaland we have two MLAs, Manipur seven, Arunachal Pradesh five and the target is to win in the entire North East to bring unity among the people and to go to Delhi with one voice, one North East.”
He stressed that the region has 25 Lok Sabha MPs and 20 MPs in the Rajya Sabha and going to Delhi with a united voice is the only way to be heard.
“Time has come that we go to Delhi not to beg or request but to demand from Delhi,” Kharlukhi stated.
Meanwhile, with regards to the Border issue with Assam, Kharlukhi said, “In the past years they say there is a status quo but the status quo is simply Assam encroaching and Meghalaya moving backward. And it’s only the NPP-led government that dared to give its decision in solving the long pending problem.”
Stating that people will give their mandate in 2023, he said, “If what we have done was truthful then let the people support us but the people should not be misled by those boasting that they will do away with the agreement made on some of the villages because they did not dare to do anything when they were in power. When our people were shot at Langpih, none dared to arrest the police from Assam. They are free and nothing was done and our people continue to face oppression.”
