Trinamool Congress MPs Protest Outside Parliament for Repeal of Assam-Meghalaya Border Pact
Last Updated: July 26, 2022, 13:06 IST
Meghalaya, India
TMC leaders protest with placards outside Parliament on July 26, 2022. (Twitter/AITCofficial)
Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Sangma said the agreement, arrived at in March this year, is "against the sentiment, wishes and acceptance of the people of Meghalaya"
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Trinamool Congress MPs and party MLAs from Meghalaya on Tuesday protested outside Parliament to demand a repeal of the border pact between the state and Assam.
The two states had in March decided to end their five-decade-old border dispute in six of the 12 contested locations along the 884.9-km boundary that often raised tensions between them.
Participating in the protest march at Vijay Chowk, All India Trinamool Congress (Meghalaya) leader Dr Mukul Sangma said, "We are trying to draw the attention of the Government of India to take cognizance of the sentiments of people of the state and scrap the Assam-Meghalaya border agreement."
Assam shares a 2743 km boundary with Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and West Bengal. It is locked in border disputes with Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
In July 2021, Assam's Cachar district had witnessed a fierce armed clash between the police personnel of Assam and Mizoram. Six Assam police personnel were killed in an armed confrontation with their Mizoram counterparts, forcing the Centre to intervene.
The pact between Assam and Meghalaya is aimed at eliminating the possibility any such violence in the border areas of the two states. There are 36 villages in the six places, covering an area of 36.79 sq km, with regard to which the agreement has been reached
Sangma said the boundary issue is a long-pending one that needs to be resolved, "but then, resolution for any issue is intended to create an enabling environment for the future; a conducive environment to enable people to live in a mutual coexistence… The agreement which has been arrived at is against the sentiment, wishes and acceptance of the people of Meghalaya."
The Trinamool Congress leaders also demanded the inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
"Having done all the necessary due diligence to qualify for the inclusion in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India, we don't understand the reason for the delay by the Government of India," the Leader of Opposition said.
The demand for inclusion and recognition of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule has done the rounds for several years, but a protest of this scale in Delhi is a first.
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