Last Updated on January 3, 2023 9: 40am
Shillong: National People’s Party (NPP) does not expect the Centre to bifurcate small states like Meghalaya into smaller states, party spokesperson Ampareen Lyngdoh said.
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The NPP leader’s remarks came after the clamour for a separate Khasi-Jaintia and Garoland states is growing ahead of the Meghalaya Assembly polls.
Ampareen said the NPP does not subscribe to the demands of a separate state.
“We have seen what happened in Kashmir and do not want a similar action to be taken in Meghalaya,” Shillong Times quoted Lyngdoh as saying.
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She also urged people to learn from what has happened to the northernmost part of the country.
“If we cross the line, we may become irrelevant and relegated to a union territory. The independent functioning of a state will be completely compromised,” said the NPP leader.
Amapareen pointed out that Meghalaya is only 50 years old and has a long way to go before its bifurcation can be pursued.
She appealed to all political forums to recall that Meghalaya came into existence because of the combined efforts and sacrifice of the people living within its boundary today.
“There will always be some differences but if these are made public and debated with bias, we will suffer a great loss. We must remain united despite our differences, including that of language,” Lyngdoh said.
She stressed the need to protect the statehood that was achieved in a democratic way and without any bloodshed.
“We protested in the 1970s as there was an aggressive intent to make the people of our state speak in one language. That anger led to the birth of our state,” she said.
Lyngdoh said the inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution has been a long-drawn demand.
“The Centre may not be considering our demand because our populations are small,” she said.
The Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSDP) had recently sought the support of the 36 legislators and 60 MDCs of the Khasi-Jaintia Hills for the creation of a separate state.
The HSDP further took its demand for a separate Khasi-Jaintia state to New Delhi under the umbrella of the Federation of New State Demand Committee.