SHILLONG : VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit pushed back sharply against Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s suggestion that issues be raised inside the Assembly rather than on the streets, saying opposition members are rarely given adequate time or space to speak on the floor of the House. He argued that ruling party members consistently dominate the time allotted for discussion, leaving little room for the opposition to bring up matters of public concern.
Speaking to reporters after Thursday’s march, Basaiawmoit said the VPP had deliberately chosen not to hand over any memorandum to the government during the protest, pointing out that repeated written submissions on various state issues in the past had gone unanswered. “It is unfortunate that the government never responded to us in writing or even called us for discussion,” he said, adding that the party saw no reason to submit a fresh petition on issues the government was already well aware of.
He expressed satisfaction with the scale of the turnout, noting that people showed up in large numbers on a working day entirely on their own, without the party spending any money to mobilise them. “Who can raise this much of a crowd, spontaneously, without spending a single paisa?” he said. “Should I not be happy? Should I not be satisfied?”
On the conduct of the march itself, he credited VPP volunteers for managing traffic and keeping the protest peaceful throughout, insisting the party had no intention of creating law and order problems or public inconvenience.
When asked about the government’s subsequent call for dialogue, Basaiawmoit was dismissive, calling it “an eyewash on the part of the government to fool the people again.” He said the real question wasn’t why the party took to the streets, but why it had to. “Repeatedly we have been denied, repeatedly we have been ignored by the government when we raise these issues,” he said.
On what comes next for the party, he said no decision had been made yet:
“We are yet to decide.”