Mukroh residents seek peaceful resolution to Assam-Meghalaya border dispute

Mukroh village, situated along the Assam-Meghalaya inter-state boundary, is now gripped with election fever as political parties try to win over residents ahead of the February 27 assembly polls. The village, which was the site of a violent clash just three months ago, now sees residents engaging in dance and merrymaking during election rallies. In November 2020, a violent clash between Assam forest guards and Meghalaya residents led to the death of five people, including a forest guard. Mukroh is one of the 12 areas along the 884.9-km-long interstate border where a longstanding dispute between the two states persists.

Residents of Mukroh hope that the new government will resolve the Assam-Meghalaya border dispute, with most maintaining that Mukroh is a part of Meghalaya. The political parties campaigning in the area have also made resolving the dispute their top agenda in the elections. UDP's Mookaiaw MLA Nujorki Sungoh stated that talks between the two states have progressed well, but the dispute in Mukroh and some other villages was yet to be resolved.

Despite the recent violence, Mukroh residents do not seem to have been deterred by it. They continue to participate in election rallies, with some breaking into dance as music blares from trucks and minivans waiting to transport them to the rallies. The NPP, UDP and Congress have all held rallies in the constituency.

The two northeastern states signed a memorandum of understanding in March last year in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi towards ending the dispute in six areas. However, the Mukroh incident is yet to be resolved. Meghalaya, which was carved out of Assam in 1972, had since then challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, which had demarcated the borders between the two state