By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 15: A high-level MDA 2.0 delegation led by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will be in Delhi later this month to give one mighty push to state’s two long-pending demands — ILP and inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in Eighth Schedule.
The delegation is hoping that Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah would finally come around on the two tricky demands the state has been flagging for over a decade.
MDA Spokesperson Paul Lyngdoh on Saturday said that the aim of their visit would be to clinch the issues which could prove to be a game-changer for the state.
While speaking to reporters, he recalled that the State Assembly had in fact adopted a resolution recommending the inclusion of Khasi and Garo language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
“This time around we also have a plan to meet all concerned authorities including Prime Minister in order to push for taking the demands to their logical end,” Lyngdoh, who is also a Cabinet minister, said.
It may be mentioned that according to the Census of 2011, there are more than 13 lakh Khasi speaking people in Meghalaya.
Article 29 of the Constitution states that a section of citizens having a distinct language, script, or culture has the right to preserve the same. According to this article, the Khasi language qualifies to be included in the list of 22 other languages in the Eighth Schedule.
Notably, under the Meghalaya State Legislature Act 2005, Garos and Khasi have already been declared associate official languages.
The central government is hesitating to include these two languages in the Eighth Schedule apparently because both Khasi and Garo do not have their own exclusive scripts.
As far as the demand for implementation of ILP is concerned, Lyngdoh said that the matter was also hanging fire and was under the consideration of the Ministry of Home Affairs and had also gone up to the Parliament.
“So this will also form a part of the agenda when we visit Delhi shortly,” Lyngdoh said.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had on Thursday said that Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma will lead his entire Cabinet to New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for pressing Delhi hard about agreeing to the implementation of ILP in Meghalaya.
The state Assembly had passed resolutions on these two issues.
‘All parties in MDA must oppose UCC’
While the state leaders pursue the ILP demand with the Centre, another contentious issue — the Uniform Civil Code — which will have bearings on Meghalaya, beckons.
Senior UDP leader Process T Sawkmie has stated that all parties in the MDA 2.0 coalition government must oppose the implementation of UCC, while pointing out that there is a clear indication that the NDA Government at the Centre is firm on introducing the UCC in the upcoming session of the Parliament.
“We fear that the implementation of the UCC will infringe into our tradition and customary practices. We are not very sure if it is going to affect the laws and ordinances of the various churches,” Sawkmie said.
He, however, added that the UCC will not be applicable in Nagaland and Mizoram because of Article 371A and Article 371G being applicable in the two states.
“We should ensure that UCC is not implemented in Meghalaya,” he asserted.