Bringing heat to the penultimate day of the autumn session of the Meghalaya Assembly, VPP legislator from Nongkrem constituency Ardent M. Basaïawmoit today launched his tirade at Education Minister Rakkam Sangma in the floor of the Assembly for making an alleged hate speech during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
Basaïawmoit who moved the short duration discussion in the House on the irregularities in the appointment of teachers in Dadenggre civil sub-division of West Garo Hills began his speech by hitting out at Rakkam Sangma for his alleged hate speech “promoting enmity between the Khasis and Garos” during the Lok Sabha election campaigns.
The education minister who was present in the House kept quiet and appeared to be unsettled and embarrassed as Basaïawmoit kept firing his shots.
“I want to direct this issue to the chief minister. I don’t want to engage in this discourse with a communal person (Rakkam) who wants to see bloodshed between the Khasis and the Garos and who once during the campaign in the last MP election had made a hate speech against us. If I were as communal as him (Rakkam), I would not have chosen to associate myself with the Garo people since the late 80s,” Basaïawmoit said apparently referring to his membership in the Federation of Khasi-Jaiñtia and Garo People (FKJGP).
“As a party we have lodged an FIR against this person (Rakkam) and we hope that the government will not prevent the authorities from initiating action against this minister,” Basaïawmoit added.
The Nongkrem MLA then continued with his points on the irregularities in the appointment of school teachers in Dadenggre civil sub-division whereby according to him many non-tribal candidates who produced doubtful certificates were recruited. He also demanded legal action against such candidates and their removal from the posts.
Before Rakkam Sangma could rise to give his reply, Basaïawmoit stood up and demanded from Deputy Speaker Timothy Shira that the reply should be given by either the chief minister or any deputy chief minister saying that he does not want to listen to a reply by a minister who was involved in hate speech.
Basaïawmoit also reminded the House that an FIR had been lodged by the VPP against Rakkam Sangma for “promoting hatred between Khasis and Garos” which attracts Section 196 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
“We don’t want a clash between the Khasis and Garos. The education minister by making such a public speech is promoting communal enmity. We should not allow this,” the Nongkrem MLA said.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong interjected by saying that as per rules the education minister is responsible to provide a reply to a matter concerning his department.
Tynsong also said that the remarks made by Basaïawmoit against Rakkam Sangma are unparliamentary and was a “personal charge against a member of the House”. He also said that as per rules of the House “personal charges should be expunged”.
Further, Tynsong said that since an FIR had been filed against the education minister, the course of law should be allowed to proceed. “This issue should not be brought inside the House,” he added.
However, Basaïawmoit stood his ground and said that he decided to bring the issue on the floor of the House since Rakkam Sangma is a member of the House.
“If the education minister is allowed to speak then we will not listen,” he asserted.
Amid the verbal exchanges, Deputy Speaker Timothy Shira went ahead to ask Rakkam Sangma to reply to the points raised in the short duration discussion.
As he was about to reply, Rakkam Sangma was left red faced as Basaïawmoit and his three party colleagues immediately walked out of the House as a token of not wanting to listen to the minister.
Later, Assembly Speaker Thomas Sangma issued a ruling declaring that the remarks made by Basaïawmoit against the education minister be expunged from the House proceedings.
It may be mentioned that on June 18 this year, the VPP had lodged an FIR with the State police against Rakkam Sangma based on a viral video showing him purportedly making fiery and objectionable comments on the Khasi-Garo issue during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.
According to the FIR, such hate speech could contribute to “communal disharmony and likely to cause communal tension, riots and violence”. It also reminded about the Supreme Court’s strong directives against hate speeches.
However, till date there was no information about the status of the FIR and the police investigation into the case.
