VPP Escalates Campaign Against Meghalaya Govt, Plans Secretariat March

SHILLONG — A large public gathering at Motphran on Wednesday marked a significant step up in the Voice of the People's Party's (VPP) campaign against the NPP-led MDA 2.0 government in Meghalaya.

The party announced plans to march to the Meghalaya Secretariat after completing a series of district-level public meetings on its now-expanded ten-point charter of demands — up from the original eight — covering youth concerns, border residents' welfare, land and livelihood issues, and what the VPP describes as persistent administrative failures by the state government.

No Data on Illegal Immigration, VPP Tells Government

VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit used the occasion to draw a sharp contrast between Meghalaya and Assam on the issue of illegal immigration — a concern that features prominently in the party's expanded demands.

He pointed out that unlike Assam, where figures on illegal immigrants have been placed before both Parliament and the state Assembly — showing a rising trend from 33 lakh in 1993 to 80 lakh in 2016 — Meghalaya's government has produced no comparable data or carried out any systematic detection exercise.

"As of now there is no proper record or estimate that the government has come out with," he said, adding that the state needed a comprehensive mechanism to detect and deport illegal immigrants, ensure they are excluded from the census, and prepare for potential spillover if eviction drives intensify in Assam.

"When there is a concentration of illegal immigrants in Assam, there will be a spillover into Meghalaya in case of eviction drives in the state of Assam," he cautioned.

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VPP Refuses to Submit Demands in Writing

In a pointed signal of the party's stance toward the current government, Basaiawmoit announced that the VPP would not formally submit its demands through official channels.

"We are not going to submit anything in writing to the state government because the state government never respects us," he said. "This time, let the government get information through the media only."

The party intends to complete public awareness meetings across districts before converging on the Secretariat at what Basaiawmoit described as "the right time" — a march designed to press all ten demands simultaneously and publicly.