North East News Agency

In presence of over 30,000 people Garo Students’ Union along with several other social organizations have demanded that a separate Garoland state should be carved out of Meghalaya. The provocation is the failure of the State Government to amicably solve the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBoSE) imbroglio.

The major show of strength was organized after  Governor M M Jacob returned the MBoSE amendment Bill seeking some clarifications from the government on the legislation passed by the Assembly. The Governor has sought clarifications whether all the four directors and principal director mentioned in the Bill, except one director proposed in Shillong, would operate from the Board’s headquarter at Tura. He also wanted to know whether the draft rules of the Act were finalised and other related clarifications.

The governor’s move assumed significance in view of the Garo Students Union and other social outfits of the Garo Hills petition to him urging him not to give his assent. P. A. Sangma, who did not attend any select committee sittings, had said NCP was against restructuring of the Board and suggested setting up a new committee to take into consideration the people’s view before passing the bill and thereby avoid law and order problem.

The demand for a separate state for Garo tribes in not new. It has been raised time and again since the inception of the state in 1972 as the people there felt ‘neglected’ by the successive governments. This was also the demand of the Achik National Volunteers Council (ANVC), the militant outfit now under truce

The four-hour long meeting adopted a resolution to create movement for a Garoland state and form a committee to pursue the goal. The alleged violation of job reservation depriving the Garos and the government’s failure to solve the MBoSE issue were cited by the speakers to press for a separate state for them.

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