uh welcome to the print I'm s Ro bman we are in migala and uh in this interview we have been joined by the state chief minister Mr K sangma um who comes from a very illustrious political family he's a son of the region stalber politician Uno sangma and the former Luka speaker as well thank you Mr s thank you you know uh so I'll begin with the most pressing issue uh facing meala right now and it is making national news in terms of the Kasi students union going after migrants and Outsiders from the state and
you have made statements in the past saying how they don't have they are not really authorized to carry out such inspections so in that case why are you not really going after them why uh first of all it's not the most pressing issue we have floods in the state we have uh large number of projects that are going on in the health sector we have a large number of projects and issues uh in from the agriculture sector but of course press decides to choose the topics they find most uh pressing and like you have started
with a topic uh and that uh so it's the most pressing issue for the Press so it's not a pressing issue uh no it is an issue but I shouldn't say it's the most pressing issue would be wrong to say it but it's an issue nonetheless we have to address it we have to discuss it so I would just like to give that small bit of thing that uh it is maybe a pressing issue for the press the most pressing issue for the press the most pressing issue so yeah but it is a issue it
is an issue so that's number one number two uh you know uh in this entire uh situation that is there uh incidents have happened we had uh individuals coming in and checking based on that uh 10 cases have been filed against different organizations and individuals and uh many of them been picked up then of course bails have been given based on the provisions that were there uh yes there was an incident where they tried to enter but the police was very forceful and ensured that nothing moved forward so therefore the police is doing its part
and definitely there's a lot of action being taken uh and at the same time we are uh engaging to figure out what is a concerns and uh wherever there are genuine issues or concerns that are there um that uh we're trying to work out and see where we can address them and uh move forward in this uh the issue of uh migration uh and uh you know and workers coming from outside uh and working is been issue uh not just for us in our state but uh even in big States like Karnataka Maharashtra just Maharashtra
karnatak was supposed to file a pass a a law that would make sure that there was reservation the private sector they put it on hold for now I mean so so you can imagine it's a it's a issue throughout the country and the and the world in fact because it's about livelihood it's about uh jobs and obviously citizens are concerned about that and everybody would like to see that uh the jobs are there for their people uh so it's a it's a concern so therefore we need to address it in a manner where uh all
these things are addressed from the job point of view also but at the same time as I said I've been firm on my stand that if there is an issue and concern you can approach us and you can inform us and wherever you find that the law and the is not being implemented in letter and Spirit uh you can formally complain to us and we will take action but checking yourself is something that I've been very clear that is not as per the law so therefore that is and whoever intervenes in that or tries to
do something in that then the law will take its course and necessary Provisions are there in the law to take action and it will be done and it is being done as we speak so you clearly feel that the concerns and anxieties are legitimate that these groups have uh depends on what you're talking about legitimacy where they talking of checking of work permit as they call it number one there's nothing called work permit uh there is a registration that is there there's no provision in the central act or the state act that has for uh
that has anything called work permit as such but there is a registration process so I'm guessing they're referring to registration so is it legitimate to check those work to check the registrations no it's not legitimate but is a concern for uh the the the issue of illegal uh immigration or even illegal immigration or foreigners coming and working uh in the state and we not being able to check yeah of course there's a genuine issue in that uh we need to check that and that's the reason why we have put up laws in our own State
uh which which looks into that checks into that if you recall the interstate migrant act uh requires you to register if you bringing in five or more people out here so there was a Luna in the system where um what if one individual comes and therefore the state came out with its own act saying that even one individual who's coming to work must register so therefore um immigration illegal immigration is an issue jobs for our local people is definitely a genuine issue but uh how you going to address it and concern uh is this the
way well it may not be so checking it absolutely not as I said so depends on what is legitimate you're seeing I concerns are genuine concerns are issues that are there uh that that that the jobs should be there for the local people absolutely you know we have come out with our uh investment policy in meala where we have said that wherever the incentives will be given to anybody to be eligible to get incentives the non-managerial staff 90% has to be local so these are ways in which we are trying to uh ensure that it's
done so yes uh uh as I said uh whether the issue is genuine or not or whether it's legitimate or not depends on what issue you're talking about you know today you had a meeting with the KSU Union and uh so after the meeting many of them came out and said you know one thing one criticism against you has consistently been the fact that you you are not really aggressive when when it comes to implementing ILP the fact is you have passed resolution in the State Assembly and it was supported by AC I mean across
the across the Divide but this particular quival that they have against you that you are not aggressive when it comes to making a case for the implementation of ILP if if it can be done in Manipur in 2020 why not meala so um number one there when you said implementing of ILP that's incorrect so I just wanted to correct your statement uh because when you speak in press and public even every word matters so therefore uh the implementation of ILP is not there uh that is incorrect to say because the government of India has not
included the state of megala in the act so therefore for us to implement doesn't arise until megala is included making Cas for so we are the only government that has made a case by passing a resolution in the past the past governments if you remember the Congress government earlier they rejected the proposal of ILP they rejected they didn't even bring a resolution in the house it is my government that brought a resolution and unanimous unanimously passed a resolution that ILP should be put in so who has made the case has it been the past government
or my government so we have made a case I have met honorable home minister more than seven eight times on this particular issue even in my recent visit to Delhi I have brought up the case but it depends on government of India how we move forward and that's something that is not in my full control um in case of the uh issues that were there raised with um the fact in Manipur uh there was a demand in the CAA when it came out there was a demand that there should be some mechanism to protect the
states in the Northeast uh from the possible impact of the CAA when that happened they were looking at Provisions under which they will be able to protect the states and hence uh six schedule was one way in which they really looked at protection of uh the states which could be vulnerable because of the ca is already under uh yeah so this me just complete so uh in that process uh putting up six schedule in arunachal was impossible because there are many many tribes out there then putting up the six schedule in Manipur was not possible
because they have got the inner the uh Valley and they have got issues with the outer Manipur also so the only provision that could be brought in in order for them to have the protection was the ILP at that point in time so the circumstances under which it was brought in have to also be seen and why it was done at that point in time so so those things have to also be looked into while we discuss so so megala had the six schedule area protection based on which the ca was an Exempted from our
state the other states of Manipur and arachel did not have and for them to bring in six schedule there was not possible because of the complications the state and hence ILP was the only way for them to bring in that provision and that's what they came with in your discussions with the center with home ministeria or as recently as last week with PM Modi you must have brought it up the fact the the these issues including ILP and what has been the response did the center say that implementing ILP in meala would be violative of
the Constitution of India uh no that discussion did not go to that level uh we were with honorable prime minister of course I discussed more of developmental issues and uh issues that are of a larger uh economic impact and policy uh but this issue I had discussed with the honorable uh home minister and I told you I have in about six to seven different occasions I brought this issue up and uh and uh he has he gave me a very patient hearing as always and uh listened to all our concerns and uh and that's it
he said that we are examining and we will get back so that was the end of the discussion for the ILP so coming to uh your meeting with PM Modi after the meeting you tweeted how you have sought some rupes 1,000 CR for the Redevelopment or the development of the new uh shilong city project what has been the response from the center from uh so when I went uh and met honorable prime minister um there were two three issues that I brought up with him uh I mentioned to him about the uh munu knowledge city
and we have applied for the uh I think it was called the e challenge if I'm not wrong of for new Township where I think about six to seven townships will be selected throughout the country and meala has put in its proposal also for munu it's a proposal where about 500 crores will be given to as a as a price money you can say to uh cities that do well in the presentation and who plan it well so I requested honorable prime minister that if shalong the maunu knowledge city can be selected for that second
I informed him that we are going for a massive program to shift the administrative City out of shalong in terms of the decongestion plan and also shalong has been shalong for the last 50 years 70 years uh but there's not been a major kind of uh uh expansion that is taking place and we see a great opportunity by doing that and therefore we showed the plan to him he loved it and I requested that we are you know for both munu as well as our uh new shalong Township you know the investments will be more
than 5 6,000 crores and we are raising the money from private sector investment from the state's Revenue uh and from the e challenge that is there in the ministry of uh Housing and Urban Affairs and I requested that if a special package could be given by him uh for the administrative City and I requested for a 1,000 CR package uh he was very happy with the proposal and uh he said definitely he'll examine it in a positive manner but we have not got any official response it this was just last week but I am hoping
that we will get some kind of support from honorable prime minister so your party is a part of NDA and you know in this Loa elections it fell short of expectations when it comes to it uh its numbers and in meala in fact your party also per the performance was to put mildly dismal so have you identified the factors that may have gone against you yeah so uh we have uh yes we've looked into all of that um I've always believed that every election is different we uh issues and agendas in every election are different
and therefore this election of course was a tough election for us and um we have looked into many factors uh somewhere along the line people have mentioned about our alignment with different political parties uh as an issue in some areas we have looked at certain uh aspects of f incumbency that could have played uh in certain areas uh you know people have mentioned about uh uh you know and of course other factors also are there uh local factors which have been there so multiple factors have been identified and we are now in the process of
uh uh finding ways to uh amend those and find a way for forward I think what is important is to learn from um every election and every defeat and uh I for one very particular about that and uh I can tell you that we have done our homework at the organizational level I have done my homework at my personal level and uh whatever steps we need to take to rectify we have already started the process and we will continue to work and I'm hopeful that uh we'll be able to leave this particular uh situation that
we faced behind us and move forward in a much more positive manner for the party small followup to previous question one of your cabinet colleagues you know he also spoke about how the bjp's sociopolitical agenda does not really sit well with the people of this region and he spoke about how BJP has been focusing on hindutva rather than governance over the last one decade do you think that has also affected NPP negatively uh I remember in 2016 uh BJP had openly supported me when I contested my mp election and I remember that BJP ministers had
come and campaign for me openly and uh in that imp elction we won by almost 1 lak 95,000 votes in thing uh every uh situation and every kind of U you know Factor can have plus and minus uh impact in politics uh um in this particular case uh there could be some areas where the concerns were there but to completely blame any political party for uh you know whatever happened to us is not fair and it's not correct on our part we are examining all of that as I said we have seen the plus of
it even uh in other ways we have seen the impact it didn't have in 2016 when we were there of course there was a very strong sympathy factor that time uh but still we would have seen the impact of that but it didn't happen that time so it's it's not always we can see black and white they're always gray areas but again as I said um it's wrong for me to blame anybody uh whatever situation happened I have to take responsibility as a party president and whatever rectification is to be done I will do at
my level so in 2016 Manipur was yet to happen what happened in Manipur over the last one year 2017 2017 so including burning of churches and you being aor neighboring state do you think uh the center has done enough to qu the situation there U if you look at Manipur uh it's a very complicated situation uh right now and um it is uh again it is for uh anyone to you know go into the analysis and say whether enough was done or not done uh there is there is a lot of complication which doesn't meet
the eye I should say and uh a lot of uh factors that at the local level we need to to push and um um you know and the situation has been complicated because of uh so many other external factors also uh but having said that uh you know at the end of the day as leadership we all need to take responsibility we all need to find a way forward in this uh you know even as a political party we are also very concerned uh in fact we have been continuously uh urging the government of India
also to move forward in a you know in a constitutional provisional manner to ease the situation out there uh there's a lot of trust deficit that has come in into Manipur and many factors have affected the entire situation uh trust deficit has been there for a long time uh in certain levels but when the situation came out it you know exponentially grew so we'll have to see how to know move forward in this but of course the center can play a very strong role in U making that possible and uh moving forward in the right
direction by sending good message and positive message across but that agains in those central government how they how they deal with the situation it is it is very complicated and uh you know but all said and done uh I'm very clear that we need to find some solutions and as leadership uh whether it's at our party level or whether it's at the national level or at the state level we need to uh you know act to find solutions to that and we need the people's Support also to be able to move forward in the right
manner because as I said because of the trust deficit that's there no matter what steps that are taken uh we not finding any kind of way forward in terms of the consensus also that uh with the peace how the peace should come in so all these factors will have to be looked in uh I do hope and pray that we able to find a way forward in this but it is a very complicated situation question last question uh going ahead in the next few months and years ahead starting from the MDC polls to the next
assembly polls do you think uh do you foresee NPP tying up with the BJP in the next election next set of polls uh well we have been very clear in this uh in our politics in the past many years uh we have not actually tied up with uh with uh with BJP in the last election also it was uh the BJP what did did not put up a candidate and then they ultimately ended up supporting the NDA candidate which is ours that is what happened so the tieup has never been actually a formal we have
always maintained our stand that we would like to contest our elections on our own ideologies so therefore there is highly uh unlikely that there will be any kind of uh situation where they will be tie up um but we have been very clear that we work in Coalition we look will uh as an when elections are done based on situation of governance we decide on what to do and what is in the best interest of the stability uh and the governance of the of the state and the benefit of the people uh but uh yes
we've been uh very particular about the situation and uh it is highly unlikely that uh we will have any U kind of uh understanding or any kind of not understanding I should say any kind of preo Alliance uh with any political party for the matter of and we would like to see that we would want to push the NPP forward no question of having political an with any party is uh is most likely the scenario which we're going to see but obviously we'll see case- to case basis in terms of uh the elections as they
unfold and we'll take a decision thank you sir thank you thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music]
