Shillong, Feb 27: The Jaiñtia National Council (JNC) on Friday condemned VPP MLA Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit’s remarks on the state reservation policy, wherein he “deliberately and unconscionably referred to the community as only Khasi blatantly, shamelessly and completely erasing the Jaintia from the very policy that is meant to protect and serve us”.
Through a media statement, JNC extended its full support to Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar, who rejected MLA Basaiawmoit’s statement.
“The Jaiñtia people… are not a footnote. We are not a sub-clause. We are not an afterthought to be remembered only when votes are needed and forgotten when policies are written,” the statement read.
The JNC also condemned the MLA, saying, “We the Khasi and the Jaiñtia are, and have always been, one people under the sacred bond of the ‘Hynñiewtrep’, the children of the Seven Huts. From the time of our great-grandparents to this day, we have walked together, struggled together, and spoken as one under the name “Khasi-Jaiñtia”. Our unity is not a political project. It is not a campaign slogan. It is “our identity, our blood, our ancestral covenant.”
