SHILLONG: The historic address of Meghalaya Governor Ganga Prasad in Hindi on the first day of the Budget session on Friday has evoked negative response from the Opposition with Congress member Ampareen Lyngdoh walking out of the House.
It was for the first time in the history of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly that the Governor delivered his address in Hindi.
Soon after Assembly Speaker Donkupar Roy was in the chair, Congress member and opposition chief whip, PT Sawkmie, raising a point of order, wanted a clarification from the Speaker whether the Governor will be speaking in Hindi and if so whether the translated version of the speech in English will be circulated.
The Speaker, however, said that the first priority was to lead the Governor to the House before his address.
However, when Sawkmie went on asking about the usage of Hindi in the Assembly by the Governor, Roy replied that copies of the speech in English will be circulated.
The Governor read out the speech in Hindi throughout his address but it did not completely tally with the English version of the speech as he skipped important paragraphs which were in the English version of the speech.
Later, reporters caught up with the Assembly Speaker, who admitted that it is for the first time that a Governor has spoken in Hindi in the House.
Elaborating further, he said, “You see the official language here is English but as per the rule, anyone can
Speaker, who admitted that it is for the first time that a Governor has spoken in Hindi in the House.
Elaborating further, he said, “You see the official language here is English but as per the rule, anyone can speak in their mother tongue provided they give the translated version beforehand.”
Roy said that the translated version had been circulated to all the members and the Governor spoke in Hindi which is considered to be the national language of the country.
“The circulated version is the official one,” he added.
Asked whether Roy insisted the Governor to speak in English, he said, “The Governor is the Governor.”
When asked whether the message in Hindi (deemed as shuddh Hindi) which the Governor spoke will be able to reach the people, Roy said, “I have seen many who watched TV and many don’t know Hindi but still they understand it (laughs).”
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma told reporters that as per the rules and conduct of the House, any member who desires to speak in his/her mother tongue can do so by giving a write-up of the speech in English 30 minutes before he/she speaks.
According to the chief minister, the Governor’s speech in Hindi is not an issue at all as it is not a foreign language as he asserted that it is a language that is spoken in the country as a whole.
He said, “The rules have been followed… The rules are there. The contents are already in the printed version along with the details.”
To a query on the Governor skipping certain portions of the circulated speech in English, Conrad said,” The reason why he summarised some of the points could be because it was very long. Those are reasons we don’t know… Governor’s House and Governor’s Secretariat will know better.”
However, Sangma said the Governor covered most of the points as he was listening to the speech in Hindi and that everything is included in the written speech in English that does not pose much issue.
“The Honorable Governor is comfortable with Hindi, he can read Hindi better so he did what he was comfortable with,” he added.
According to Sangma, since the speech in English was circulated, it would not be an issue whether he spoke in Hindi or English.
“If he had not given anything in writing, then we would be able to say, ‘What is happening?’ But it has been given in English and I don’t see any issue,” he said.
On the other hand, Leader of the Opposition Mukul Sangma said it should have been ideal for the Governor to speak the official language that is widely used in the State.
“We are proud of our heritage in the Assembly, but a precedence is created and we will have to preserve the legacy. It would have been appropriate to address the House in the language we communicate in,” he added.
After the House resumed at 12.30 pm, following a tea break, Sawkmie, raising a point of order, again raked up the issue of the Governor creating a bad precedence.
“For the first time in the history of Meghalaya, a Governor is addressing the House in Hindi and this is to popularise one nation, one culture, one language,” he said.
“This infringes on the norms and it will create precedence as members would resort to the use of Khasi, Garo and Pnar languages in the days to come,” he pointed out.
Sawkmie asserted, “As head of the state, the Governor should not have let down the dignity and decorum of the House.”
Congress legislator MM Danggo wanted to know whether the English version of the speech circulated to the members is exactly the translated version of the speech in Hindi used by the Governor.
In reply, the Speaker repeated that the rules and procedures of the Assembly clearly mention that though English is the official language, members can also speak in their mother tongue provided the translated copies are circulated to the members.
He also said the English version of the Governor’s address was exactly the translated version in Hindi spoken by the Governor.
