The Hynñiewtrep Achik National Movement (HANM) has urged the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly that MLAs should be allowed to speak and debate in Khasi and Garo languages during the Budget Session.
Leaders of the pressure group met with Assembly Speaker, Thomas A Sangma today ahead of the session scheduled to begin on February 16.
“The 60 legislators should speak and debate in Khasi or Garo languages to show to the centre that even though it has not decided to include the languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, the legislators can do so in the House,” HANM president Lamphrang Kharbani told reporters.
He also said that the Assembly secretariat should arrange translators if the MLA Garo legislators do not understand Khasi and vice-versa.
HANM told the Speaker that the tribal languages should be used in the Assembly while they will take the issue to New Delhi. Kharbani said the organisation is waiting for the installation of a new government at the Centre before they move New Delhi to put pressure on the issue.
“We have decided to go on a hunger strike to force the Centre to listen to the voice of the people of the state,” he said.
It may be mentioned that while English is the official language in Meghalaya, Khasi and Garo languages are considered its associated official languages.
Last year, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had subscribed to the use of Khasi and Garo languages in the Assembly, as a step towards promoting the languages.
He was of the view that both Khasi and Garo languages should be allowed to be used to a certain extent with translation in the Assembly.
On November 27, 2018, the Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to urge the Centre to include Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
According to the 2011 census, Garo at present has a language population of 936,496.
The Khasi Authors’ Society said that there are 14, 31,344 people in India who speak Khasi.
In 2005, the Meghalaya Assembly had also passed the Meghalaya Language Act which recognised Khasi and Garo as the state’s associate official languages.
