Shillong, Dec 17: The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government has assured to aggressively push the Centre for immediate introduction of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) to protect the indigenous communities of the state from the amended Citizenship Act.

At the same time, the state government appealed to all concerned including anti-CAA groups to refrain from any kind of public gatherings in order to restore normalcy in the state at the earliest.

This was conveyed by the chief minister Conrad K Sangma during a meeting with different stakeholders including civil society organizations, religious leaders, traditional heads and others, held at the secretariat on Tuesday.

The prevailing situation arising out of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act was also discussed.

After the meeting, deputy chief minister, Prestone Tynsong told reporters that the government has maintained that it is on the same page with the people of the state to ensure that ILP is implemented in the state.

The government has expressed confident that it will be able to bring and pass the resolution for introduction of the ILP in the special session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on December 19.

Tynsong said that the stakeholders have also submitted their suggestions including the need for the state government to aggressively pursue the demand with the Central government.

“We have assured them that the government will aggressively follow up with the Centre to meet the aspiration of the people at the earliest possible,” he said.

Tynsong further informed that the chief minister has also appealed and requested all concerns to refrain from any kind of public meetings and rallies following the commitment of the state government.

“We appealed and requested all leaders to cooperate with the government to bring back normalcy in the state at the earliest possible. I am happy to tell you that all of them have endorsed the decision taken by the government,” he said.

Former legislator of Nongkrem constituency, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit had said that the state government only needs to issue a notification as per Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873 to implement ILP in the state instead of passing a resolution to urge the Centre.

Reacting to this, the deputy chief minister said, “I would request the former MLA of Nongkrem and also a very tall leader of the state to update himself first before making such statements and refrain from creating confusion on this issue. You need to understand one thing that the latest notification came out from the government of India on December 11, this year. Prior to this, it is correct we may by notification issued and by the cabinet it can be done, but now since the latest notification came out on December 11, 2019, so we are bound to go back to the Central government for implementation of ILP in the same form as in the case of Manipur.”

On the fate of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016 if ILP is being implemented, Tynsong said, “We don’t talk about that now. MRSSA is already in place since 2016 but recently we made few amendments and we passed in the Cabinet in the form of ordinance and till now it is lying with the Raj Bhavan.”

He said in fact, in the ordinance amending the MRSSA, the government has more or less made it just like ILP.

But the NGO leaders have impressed upon the need to strengthen the MRSSA (in its present form), Tynsong said, adding that the government has already constituted the district task forces (DTFs) under the chairmanship of the respective deputy commissioners.

In view of this, the deputy chief minister informed that the government has decided to instruct all the DTFs to be more pro-active in as far as implementation of the MRSSA is concerned.

“The implementation of the MRSSA, 2016 will continue leaving aside the amendment in the form of ordinance. The Act and its rules are already in place and it is only a question of strengthening the implementation of the old Act,” he said.

With regards to the demand for passing a resolution not to implement CAA in the state, Tynsong maintained that the state government had already passed a resolution along with stakeholders and submitted the same to the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on November 30.

“We do not need to bring a resolution on this matter as we have already passed the same on November 30. The government and the people of state are on the same page, saying no to Citizenship Act in Meghalaya,” he said.

He said although the Centre has agreed to exempt 97 per cent of the state from the purview of the CAA, but the state government’s stand is for exemption of the entire state.