Govt terms HNLC bandh “anti-students”

Shillong, October 18: Terming the 36 hours bandh call given by the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) as anti-student seeking to deprive about 2,000 students from attending the convocation at the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), the Meghalaya government appealed to the people to defy the bandh and come out in large number to greet President Pranab Mukherjee on his maiden visit to the state.

The HNLC has called the 36 hours bandh from 6 am on October 20 to 6 pm on October 21 to protest against the visit of Mukherjee to Shillong

In a press communiqué issued on Friday evening the Meghalaya government said that the HNLC, which has been declared a banned outfit under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, has been giving a boycott call during Republic Day and Independence Day since the year 2000.

Likewise, the communiqué said, the HNLC also gave a boycott call during the general election to the Meghalaya legislative assembly which was met with a resounding defeat as the voter turnout in  the state registered an all time high of 87.97 percent.

Saying that the government has taken a serious note of these “avoidable and  unnecessary calls for bandh, particularly by an organization which has been  proscribed by law” the state government said these bandhs have needlessly restricted the movement of people  which is a fundamental right of every citizen of India, weaken the earning  capacity of daily wage earners and labourers and brought the image of the state in negative light.

While assuring that adequate security arrangement will be made to counter the 36-hour bandh call during the president visit to Shillong, the government communiqué said the “HNLC bandh call can well be termed anti-student and is sought to deprive about 2,000 students from attending the convocation at the premises of the North Eastern Hill University to receive their degrees, a culmination of years of hard work.”

The government communiqué assured that while steps are being taken to provide all  necessary security arrangements for the protection of all sections of the people  of the state, particularly during the 36 hours of the bandh, it appealed  to the citizen of the state to come out in large numbers to  greet the President on his visit to the state which the government felt  will be an  indication of the people’s maturity and send out a strong message that the people of the state can no longer be willfully held to siege at every turn.- By Our Reporter