Opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) in Meghalaya on Wednesday sharpened its campaign against the NPP-led MDA 2.0 government, announcing plans to march to the Meghalaya Secretariat after completing a series of district-level awareness meetings on its expanded ten-point charter of demands, as a massive public turnout at Motphran signalled growing political mobilisation and deepening public engagement around issues ranging from youth concerns and border residents’ welfare to land, livelihood and alleged administrative lapses.
Addressing media persons, VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit flagged the absence of any credible data on illegal immigration in Meghalaya and contrasted it with Assam’s documented estimates, stating, “About illegal immigrants issue said, as of now there is no proper record, there is no estimate that the government has come out not like in Assam where in Assam made both in Parliament and in Assembly. The Estimate made by the BJP government in parliament and in the state Assembly of Assam is that there is a consistent rising trend of illegal immigrants in Assam, from 33 lakhs in 1993 to 40 lakhs in 1997, to 50 lakhs in 2001 and to 80 lakhs in 2016. So it shows that the government of Assam has carried out and exersise to detect and to locate these illegal immigrants when they are coming up with the figures. Whereas in the state of Meghalaya there is no such exercise that the Government has carried out.” He underscored the need for a comprehensive mechanism to detect and deport illegal immigrants, cautioning that any intensified eviction drive in Assam could have spillover effects in Meghalaya, and said, “Simultaneously, the government has to carry out a full proof exercise to detect these illegal immigrants and they should not be included in the census they should be detected and deported. That is what we want. SIR is an exercise to filter those who are not eligible voters but this demand is to ensure that the government prepare mechanism to detect and deport these illegal immigrants. When there was concentration of illegal immigrants in Assam, there will be spill over to Meghalaya in case of eviction drive in the State of Assam.”
Indicating a shift in the party’s approach, Basaiawmoit said the VPP would not formally submit its demands to the government, choosing instead to communicate through public platforms and media, while preparing for a march to the Secretariat at an appropriate time. He said, “As I have told you we are not going to give any writing to the state Government because the state Government never respect us. This time let the government get information through media only. At the right time we will march towards secretariat and demand these eight plus two additional points which comes to Ten point demand. After we have completed few round of public meeting to enlighten the people about the eight point demands. We will hold similar meetings in other districts as well.”
The rally also brought into focus concerns surrounding the Meghalaya Public Service Commission, District Selection Committees, pending teachers’ demands and unresolved border disputes, with the party asserting that the ruling dispensation had failed to address the aspirations of the Khasi-Jaintia community. It further claimed that sustained public pressure had led to the exclusion of Lumpongdeng from a proposed luxury resort project, while raising fresh questions over long-term lease arrangements and seeking greater transparency in the project’s execution. Emphasising the scale of public support, Basaiawmoit said, “The massive turn out of the people indicates that the people in the state are fed up with the state Government and also we have been able as a party to highlight in a proper way the eight point demands which we are going to demand from the government to address immediately. About Lumpongdeng Island issue, the government has withdrawn the project from Lumpongdeng but the question here is why give a lease from 60-90 years where we are not going to accept it the government will have to reduce and we also need to investigate about the Nexus, the link between this project and the person who is going to execute the project and we also need to find out and get a clarification about the role of the Taj in this project. There are eight points as we have discussed in the meeting.”
Senior leaders, including Batskhem Myrboh, the party’s candidate for the Shillong Parliamentary constituency bye-election, along with several MDCs and MLAs, attended the rally, signalling the VPP’s intent to broaden its political outreach as it prepares for its proposed march to the Secretariat.
