Guwahati: Demand for a separate state for the Garos reverberated throughout the nation’s capital as demonstrators carrying the call for Garoland arrived in New Delhi.
Supporters of Garoland state actively participated in the All India sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on December 14. These supporters came from all over the nation, including the Garo Hills and demanded statehood.
The conglomerate National Federation for New States which counts the Garoland, Gorkhaland (Darjeeling hills), Tipraland (Tripura) and Bodoland (Assam) Delegations among its members organised the two-day protest sit-in and demonstration calling for the creation of new states.
The Garo people have been demanding their own state since the hill state movement in the late 1960s when the entire tribal region across the northeast erupted in protest against the then Assam Government’s decision to make Assamese mandatory in schools, sparking a backlash that resulted in a revolution. Nikman Ch Marak, the Garo National Council MDC and Deputy CEM led a delegation to the protest and narrated the demand of the Garo people.
In order to show their support for a separate state for the Garos, GNC leader Nikman Marak, former GHADC CEM Purno K Sangma and the head of the Garoland State Movement Committee gathered on Wednesday at Jantar Mantar.
Prior to the Meghalaya Assembly elections, there has been an increase in demand for the creation of a State that would be largely for the Garo ethnic people.
By February 2023, Meghalaya’s 60-member House is projected to be seated. Assemblies in Nagaland and Tripura, two additional northeastern States with the same number of seats, would also be elected at the same time.