SHILLONG, FEB 24: “Give us ILP, we will support BJP” – read a placard displayed by activists of the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally at Khyndailad on Friday.
Modi for the first time took out a roadshow in Meghalaya and addressed a massive crowd here to seek people’s support for the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections to be held on February 27.
The activists also displayed placards expressing the need to include Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.
HYC president Robertjune Kharjahrin said through the placards, the HYC is only reminding the Centre and the Prime Minister on the need to take a call on these important and genuine issues by respecting the resolutions passed by the state Assembly.
Reiterating the message on the placards, Kharjahrin said, “If they give ILP and include the two languages in the Eighth Schedule, not only us but many will support the BJP.”
Asked on the BJP’s failure to include ILP in their manifesto, the HYC chief said, “It is up to the BJP to take a call.”
He said that the different voices coming out of the BJP on the issue where its national leaders will say something else and the local leaders will say something else only proves that the party does not take the issues seriously.
Kharjahrin said that the HYC had met the BJP national leaders many times and had submitted memorandums on several occasions on the need to implement ILP and the question for more deliberation on the issue does not arise at all.
He added the question that arises is whether the BJP has the political will to protect the identity of the indigenous people of Meghalaya.
“If BJP can give ILP to Manipur without any hesitation then why is there hesitation for Meghalaya? What is needed is the political will on the part of the BJP. There is nothing else to talk, to discuss, what is needed is whether the BJP has the political will to protect the identity of the indigenous people of the state of Meghalaya that’s all,” Kharjahrin asserted.
On the allegation that ILP will affect the tourism industry in Meghalaya, the HYC leader said that is not a new thing and his organization had already given its suggestions to show that ILP will not at all affect the tourism industry in the state.
“We also know how to bring a system that will not affect tourism. We have already talked about that. With the help of technology, we can go for e-ILP. There is no need to apply offline so how will it affect tourism. Apply plane tickets or bus tickets will not affect anybody to go to some places they want to go. So similarly, applying for ILP will not affect people. No doubt every state wants to boom tourism – that issue has been discussed and they need not be reminded about it all the time,” Kharjahrin while daring the BJP to show its political will to protect the identity of the tribal people in Meghalaya.
By Our Reporter
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