SHILLONG, JAN 9:Terming the decision of the Mukul Sangma’s led Congress led coalition government to extend the term of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council-GHADC- as “unconstitutional” and “murder of democracy”, opposition National People’s Party (NPP) said the decision is not only whimsical” but also “arbitrary.”
Addressing a media conference on Friday, NPP spokesman and legislator James K Sangma besides being ‘unconstitutional’, ‘whimsical and arbitrary’ the decision was taken only by one person and that is the Chief Minister.
The state cabinet for the fourth consecutive time extended the term of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) by another six months to facilitate holding of elections in the delimited seats.
The decision of the state government was taken on the basis that the proposed amendment bill of the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution will get the approval of the Centre in the upcoming budget session in Parliament.
Stating that there is no justification whatever the chief minister said, Sangma said, “Because it is already mentioned in the constitution which states –The period of five years may be extended while a proclamation of emergency is in operation…” adding “We all know there is no proclamation of emergency right now…”
Sangma said the NPP believes that whatever is being done by the present government is totally unconstitutional and there has to be a stop to this. “We totally opposed it and we demand that this government immediately declare elections and hold the district council elections to GHADC,” he added.
Terming the recent decision of the government as politically motivated, NPP state president WR Kharlukhi said, “The chief minister is afraid of facing elections… He was so confident of winning the parliamentary seats but he lost miserably.”
Stating that fear knows no boundary, Kharlukhi said, “Similarly, the chief minister will go to any extend just to protect himself… he is politically insecure, and he is afraid of losing another election…that is the main reason behind extending the GHADC elections.”
NPP working president Conrad Sangma said the party has decided to explore all options on the matter. “In the process, if necessary we will meet concern people like the Governor, representatives in Government of India and we may go to the highest level also,” he warned.
Conrad also informed that the party will also discuss with other stakeholders and partners in the opposition and will accordingly decide how to go forward. He said,” We have to take this issue aggressively and as of now we are letting people and everybody know that we are opposed to this particular move that the government is making,” he added.
Conrad argued that there are so many Sixth Schedule areas in the country and all of them will be affected by this proposed amendment. Stating that a massive discussion on this is likely to take place, Conrad reiterated that there is no guarantee that this bill will be cleared or passed in this budget session.
According to Conrad there is going to be long drawn process and there is a slim chance that it is going to be passed in the coming session of the parliament. – By Our Reporter
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