SHILLONG, Nov 12: The controversy over the logic behind naming Meghalaya’s newest district as Eastern West Khasi Hills refuses to die down. The announcement of the name on November 5 generated a plethora of memes and trolls prompting Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to come up with a justification during the function to mark the formal inauguration of the district at Mairang on Wednesday.
Expressing surprise and dismay over the trolls and memes generated over the new name, he had stated that the name was finalised after wide-ranging consultations and was what the public had wanted.
Just two days after the CM’s statement, The Shillong Times has learnt that the bureaucrats who had attended the Cabinet meeting on November 5, the day when the name was finalised, had spoken against the nomenclature of ‘Eastern West Khasi Hills District’.
A source close to the government told ST that the officials including Chief Secretary, RV Suchiang had pointed out to the Cabinet ministers that the nomenclature ‘Eastern West Khasi Hills’ is wrong since there is no such thing as ‘Eastern West Khasi Hills’ or ‘East West Khasi Hills’. However, Cabinet Minister and Mawthadraishan MLA, H. Brolding Nongsiej was adamant that the new district should be named ‘Eastern West Khasi Hills’.
During the course of the Cabinet meeting, consultations were held with some MLAs representing constituencies falling in the new district, but they too wanted the same name despite the bureaucracy and even the Political department protesting against the name, the source told ST.
The officials pointed out that East and West are diametrically opposite directions and could not be used together, but the minister (Nongsiej) and the local MLAs wanted either the word ‘East’ or ‘Eastern’ to be put in the nomenclature.
Prior to the Cabinet meeting on November 5, consultations were also held with some traditional leaders and they too demanded that the word ‘East’ should find a mention in the name of the new district.
The source revealed that the curious name of ‘East West Khasi Hills’ was also taken up for consideration before it was modified into the less-embarrassing ‘Eastern West Khasi Hills’. However, the suggestion that the new district be either named ‘North West Khasi Hills’ or ‘Central Khasi Hills’ was summarily rejected, the source revealed.
Soon after the Cabinet meeting, the name of the new district was revealed to the world and as they say, the rest is history!