SHILLONG, APR 22: The opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) president, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit, on Wednesday announced an eight-point charter of demands against the MDA government during a public rally at Motphran, ranging from scrapping the Lumpongdeng Project to detection and deportation of illegal immigrants.

“We demand the immediate scrapping of the Lumpongdeng Project. No project should be imposed without the consent of the people. Our land is not for experimentation, exploitation, or backdoor privatization,” Basaiawmoit said, listing the first demand.

On education, he said the government must cease requiring long-serving teachers to clear the MTET at the twilight of their careers, which is unjust and demoralising and called for the immediate withdrawal of the Meghalaya Private College Act 2025, which threatens the autonomy and stability of grant-in-aid institutions.

The VPP also demanded complete depoliticization of recruitment bodies like DSC and MPSC and an end to the practice of extending service for retired employees, which blocks opportunities for unemployed youth.

On land, the party sought an immediate halt to leasing or selling public land to corporates or private entities” and “no bypassing of Autonomous District Councils in land matters.

Other demands included urgent action to stop illegal influx into Meghalaya, an immediate halt to new coke and cement plants, and a time-bound and transparent process to detect and deport all illegal immigrants residing in the state.

Asked about the significance of the rally, Basaiawmoit said, “The turn up of the people indicate that the people of the state are fed up with the government and also, we are enabling as a party to hand out in a proper way our 8 points of demand, where we are going to demand from the government to address immediately.”

Later while speaking to reporters, Basaiawmoit said that the government has withdrawn the Lumpongdeng project “from that specific area,” but questioned the 60–90 year lease and called for a probe into links with the executing agency and the role of the Taj in this project.

“The government has already withdrawn that project from the Lumpongdeng, not entire as it is but that specific area of Lumpongdeng has been removed. But the question here is that why give a lease 60-90 years, where we are not going to accept it, the government has 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 clarification about the role of the Taj in this project.”

Responding to allegations that VPP was politicizing the Lumpongdeng Island issue, he said, “See these people seem to not understand the true meaning of politics, to them politics seem to be fine in election only but it is not the case with VPP.”

On the issue of Spas, Basaiawmoit said, “We want to go according to the culture, the belief of the Khasi people, that it is not such an urgent matter for the state government to concentrate on developing spas in the state.” He added that the government should consider “the safe environment for the people of the state” when bringing such development.

He also opposed plans for high-end hotels.

“We are not in favor because our state does not need so many 5 Star, 7 Star hotels, we need local tourism to be promoted and to be supported,” he said.

On illegal immigration, Basaiawmoit said Meghalaya, unlike Assam, has no estimates.

“As of now there is no proper record, there are no estimates that the government has come out, not like in Assam where the statement made both in the parliament and in state assembly which estimates that there is a consistent rising trend of illegal immigrants in Assam,” he said.

“Whereas in the state of Meghalaya there is no such exercise that the government has carried,” he added. “Simultaneously the government has to carry out a fool proof exercise to detect these illegal immigrants and they should be included in the census, they should be detected and deported, that is what we want.”

He clarified that the demand was different from voter list revision.

“This exercise is not like SIR, SIR is an exercise to filter those people who are not eligible to be voters of Meghalaya or India but this demand is to ensure that the government is preparing a mechanism to detect and deport these illegal immigrants,” Basaiawmoit said.

“When there is concentration of illegal immigrants in Assam, there will be spillover to Meghalaya, in case there is eviction drive in Assam,” he warned.

On submitting demands to government, he said, “We will not give any writing to government because the government never respect us… this time the government should get this information through the media and at the right time, we will march to the secretariat to demand that these 8 plus 2 additional points which have been requested from the people.”