The Khasi Authors’ Society (KAS) met with Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today to demand that Khasi should be an official language of Meghalaya.
KAS president DRL Nonglait said that two issues were taken up with the Chief Minister. One was the official language issue; Nonglait said that Khasi is only an associate official language at the moment, which does not make sense as Meghalaya was created for its three major tribes, one of which is the Khasis.
“How can our mother tongue be an associate official language? We requested the CM to bring an amendment to the Meghalaya Language Act 2005,” Nonglait said.
Concerning the Garo community, he said there is no bar to making Garo another of the official languages.
KAS also apprised the CM of the resolution that it had adopted following a peaceful demonstration held in New Delhi over the demand for the inclusion of Khasi in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
Sangma was urged to follow up on KAS’s memorandum submitted recently to the Union Home Minister and Prime Minister.
“The Chief Minister assured that he will write a follow up letter on the same to the central government within this week. He also assured that he will study the demand for Khasi as an official language and then hold discussions,” Nonglait informed.
