The Tower of Babel represents the pride of mankind wanting to reach the heavens and be their own gods. The story goes that the people of the city of Babel wanted to build an incredible city with a huge tower, so large that it touched the heavens! This so incensed God that He destroyed the tower and confounded everyone’s language. If one goes by the narrative of the Bible that was how languages were born. Today we have a somewhat similar situation in the Meghalaya Assembly where two legislators decided to speak in Khasi, thereby inconveniencing those from Garo Hills who do not speak or understand the language. The two legislators were reacting to the Governor’s maiden address delivered in Hindi at the first session of the Assembly under the new ruling dispensation – the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance.
The Meghalaya Raj Bhavan has been the home of distinguished scholars and statesmen like BK Nehru, MM Jacob, and Dr KK Paul amongst the seventeen others who have been appointed. It is unfortunate that the NDA Government at the Centre could not find equally accomplished personalities to send to Meghalaya. After the inglorious exit of V Shanmuganathan, people expected the choice of Governor for Meghalaya would be more circumspect. But that was not to be! It appears that the BJP couldn’t care less who it sends as governors to the North Eastern states! A governor is a representative of the President of India. The person should have the necessary qualification and an impeccable stature. This is how the central government demonstrates its respect for the people of a particular state. To send a Hindi-speaking governor to Meghalaya is to show utter disregard for large sections of its population that does not speak or understand Hindi.
On the first day of the Assembly session a legislator walked out in protest. On Monday the same legislator spoke in kasha in the House. Would it not be a better idea to march to Raj Bhavan and demand that the Governor henceforth address the House in English, a language spoken and understood in Meghalaya, rather than reduce the Assembly to a Tower of Babel?