Ampareen against Centre’s diktat on Hindi

SHILLONG, April 8: Suspended Congress leader, Ampareen Lyngdoh on Friday castigated the Centre for imposing Hindi language on the Northeast and said that Meghalaya has adequate system in place to prevent the Centre from making the language compulsory in schools.
“We have enough defence in our state to not allow the Government of India to impose its diktat. We cannot allow it because Khasi and Garo are the two major languages in the state,” she said.
It may be mentioned that Union Home Minister Amit Shah,  who is also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee, had on Thursday said that 22,000 Hindi teachers had been recruited in the eight states of the Northeast and all the states have agreed to make Hindi compulsory up to Class X.
Shah had also stated that nine tribal communities of the Northeast had converted their dialects’ scripts to Devanagari.
Asserting that Meghalaya is a Sixth Schedule state, Lyngdoh said that any diktat from the Government of India would not be operational in the state.
“If my kids are unable to study my language then it will be very dangerous. My language will likely disappear and become extinct,” she observed.