SHILLONG : Former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma has blamed the state government for failing to act on warnings from civil society groups and prepare adequately for the violence that followed the KSU rally in Shillong on August 19.
Sangma said the government should have taken seriously the concerns raised by different stakeholders before the situation escalated, arguing that the administration had enough machinery to assess the risks and take preventive measures.
“The day of the incident, is it not possible for the government to know what is going to happen? It’s a complete failure of the government,” Sangma said.
He questioned why the administration did not issue public advisories or put stronger preventive measures in place after granting permission for the rally.
According to Sangma, the violence should not be portrayed as a conflict between Meghalaya and Assam or between different communities.
“It is not a conflict between the people of Meghalaya and people of Assam. It is an unprecedented incident that has happened because of failure of the state government of Meghalaya,” he said.
Sangma also criticised the government’s repeated response that the “law will take its own course”, calling it an easy response that does not address whether authorities had acted early enough.
“The only thing I have seen is that okay, ‘law will take its own course’. They don’t have to tell about how the law will take its own course—it’s a natural course,” he said.
He said the violence could damage Meghalaya’s reputation and affect the peaceful environment in the region.
“It has got that kind of potentiality to create unnecessary damage to the name and fame and brand of the state of Meghalaya,” Sangma said.
The former chief minister also referred to warnings he had raised in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly during the previous term, saying the government had been cautioned against complacency.
He recalled telling the House that there was “no space for government to be complacent” and that authorities should not take the situation for granted.
Sangma said his assessment of the present situation pointed to what he described as misplaced priorities within the government.
“What I can see and based on my analysis is that the people in government have missed priorities. That is very dangerous in a democracy,” he said.
His remarks come amid continuing tension following the August 19 violence, including disruptions to interstate transport between Meghalaya and Assam and concerns over the impact on tourism and the movement of residents between the two states.
