Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma-led delegation will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah to impress upon him to implement the Inner Line Permit (ILP) regime in the state.
“We are going tomorrow (February 18) to Delhi. In fact, all our coalition partners of the MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) government are going. I have sought an appointment with the Home Minister tomorrow evening or 19th evening,” Sangma told reporters after inaugurating the Meghalaya Games, 2020.
The proposed meeting between the chief minister-led delegation and Shah is significant in the wake of the pro-ILP group under the banner of Confederation of Meghalaya Social Organisation (COMSO) has launched its ‘Direct Action’ agitation by checking movement of people along the inter-state boundary with Assam and Bangladesh.
Meghalaya shares an 884.9 km inter-state boundary with Assam and another 443 km border with Bangladesh.
In fact, Sangma had met Amit Shah on the issue on January 30 but the former had requested latter to meet him after the Delhi assembly elections.
The Meghalaya Assembly had on December 19 unanimously adopted a resolution urging the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre to implement ILP in the state in view of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Media reports suggest that Shah was non-committal on Meghalaya government’s request and had promised to discuss about the issue after the Delhi Assembly election.
The ILP regime was extended to Manipur on December 11 with President Ram Nath Kovind signing the order. Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh have already been under the ILP regime for several decades.
