Prez Murmu petitioned to initiate creation of separate ‘Garoland'
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Shillong: President Droupadi Murmu has been petitioned by the Garoland State Movement Committee (GSMC) to initiate creation of a separate state for the matrilineal Garo tribal community, carved out of Meghalaya and certain Garo-inhabited areas in Assam.
Asserting that the 'rights of Garo people should be protected', the petition highlighted 'problems' faced by the bonafide Garo citizens in their 'own lands'.
Stating that the demand for creation of a separate Garoland State is 'not a new thing', the petition said that it, in fact, is a century-old issue which dates back to India's pre-Independence era.
"The movement for the creation of Garoland State comprising predominantly Garo inhabited areas of the erstwhile undivided Assam and vast chunks of land occupied by the indigenous Garo Tribe spread over Mymensing and Dhaka Districts now in present day Bangladesh was spearheaded by a patriotic Garo leader Late Matgrik Sonaram R Sangma during British Regime in 1895, which was much earlier than the movement for India's Independence by Mahatma Gandhi," the petition said.
The memorandum said successive Garo leaders had pursued the same issue with the erstwhile undivided state of Assam and thereafter the state of Meghalaya since 1972 and the successive central govts but 'this genuine issue remained unattended to'. "Garos are peace loving people and believe in dialogue and negotiation to address any issue, unlike others who choose violence to press demands," the petition said.
Stating that the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribal communities have been living peacefully, the petition, however, pointed out that all three have different languages, cultures, customs, traditions, believes, local governance and even land holding systems, and that the 'three tribes are totally different from each other, which impedes the growth of the state and its people altogether', adding that the Garo Hills has remained economically backward.
In the light of these issues, the GSMC urged the President to consider their demand for a separate Garoland state.
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