The Opposition Congress has demanded Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma to step down and go for fresh polls after the National People’s Party (NPP) flip flop stand on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Addressing a news conference after chairing the meeting of the Congress, leader of Opposition Mukul M. Sangma said the NPP, which is leading the government in the state, had “misinterpreted” and “misrepresented” the stand of the people by supporting the citizenship act in Parliament.

“We are deeply disturbed regarding the stand of the government led by Conrad K. Sangma and the complicity of the government in creating a perception that the people of Meghalaya accept this legislation. They have misinterpreted and misrepresented the stand of the people. That is the biggest betrayal,” Sangma said. He also alleged that there has been “complete” lack of responsibility in governance. “The disappearance of the government from the scene. You have seen the situation in different parts of the state. The situation has been mishandled, which is unprecedented. This is an affront to the people. We condemn their (government’s) incompetence and insensitivity.”

Mukul said therefore the government should leave the chair and go for polls, and seek fresh mandate from the people. “It is because they have betrayed us. Their narrative during the election was different from their action,” he said.

He also castigated the government for shutting down mobile Internet and SMS across the state for more than three days now.

On the inner line permit, he said the Congress was in favour of implementation of the system along with the operationalisation of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, 2016.

Besides, he said there should be other mechanisms to supplement the ILP and the act to protect the people. The statement in support of the ILP assumes significance as the government intends to bring a resolution in a special session of the Assembly to be held on Thursday demanding from the Centre to extend the system to Meghalaya.

“We also demand that the scheduled areas should cover the entire state,” Mukul said.

At present, around 97 per cent of the state comes under the Sixth Schedule while some areas in Shillong are termed as “normal areas”. According to the citizenship law, the provisions of the legislation will not be made operational in the scheduled areas of the state.

“We have to ensure that these non-scheduled areas do not become enclaves, and hence, the provisions of the Sixth Schedule should be extended to the entire state,” Sangma said.

He asked both Meghalaya and Assam to resolve the areas of difference as he feared that those areas would become enclaves. There are 12 areas of difference between the two sides, and the states have been unable to resolve the impasse for decades.

On Sangma’s reluctance to implement the ILP during his tenure as chief minister, he said, “The situation then and now is different. When we brought the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act, there was complete unanimity. I did not bulldoze it.”

He also said the situation now appeared that the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873, was relevant.

However, he made it clear that the Congress will continue to protest against the citizenship act and seek repeal of the amendments.