Meghalaya leader Purno Agitok Sangma’s promise in his last parliamentary election in 2014 to fight for a separate state for the Garo people is now being rekindled.

During the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, the former Lok Sabha Speaker, who passed away in March 2016, had made the demand for Garoland as a political agenda.

Four years down the line, more than 400 people from the Garo Hills region assembled on Wednesday near the secretariat here to make their voices for a separate Garoland heard.

Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma is Sangma’s youngest son.

Led by the Garoland State Movement Committee (GSMC), members belonging to other groups like the Garo Students’ Union, Mother’s Union, Federation of A’chik Freedom, A’chik Holistic Awakening Movement, the people demonstrated their will to break away from the Khasi-Jaintia hills region and have a state of their own.

“Our message is loud and clear: we are demanding a separate state for the Garos. It is a very longstanding demand. We believe and hope that our demand will be resolved through dialogue. The Centre and state government should initiate a dialogue with us to resolve our demand,” committee chairman Nikman Ch. Marak said.

On why the committee wants to break away from the present state of Meghalaya, he said, “Meghalaya was created in 1972 and since then we (Khasis, Jaintias and Garos) have been living peacefully. But the language, culture, tradition, land-holding system and local governance are not similar. We also cannot come out of backwardness in the Garo hills even 40 years since Meghalaya was created.”

He said that the Centre should set up a second State Reorganisation Commission to look into the demand.

On the claims that “Garoland” will include villages falling within the Khasi hills, Marak said, “We have not drawn the map. When the government calls us for a dialogue, we will involve all the stakeholders. Based on the dialogue, we will initiate drawing of the (Garoland) map.”

The disbanded militant group ANVC allegedly submitted a proposed map of “Garoland” where nearly 200 villages falling within Khasi Hills were shown to be part of the new state.

Marak said the Garo population living in the five districts of Garo hills is more than nine lakh while that in the entire state is around 12 lakh. There are Garos who are living in parts of Assam and Bangladesh. The Garos in Assam have been demanding an autonomous council.

Garo Hills Autonomous District Council member Augustine R. Marak said the demand for Garoland is based on linguistic lines.

The committee and its supporters will be meeting Conrad in Tura in the next few days to discuss the demand.

“Increasing the numerical strength of the GHADC is not enough. We have a different identity, language and culture,” he said.

He also reminded that Garo National Council (GNC) leader (late) Clifford R. Marak and HSPDP leader (late) H.S. Lyngdoh had jointly moved the Centre to bifurcate the state into Garoland and Khasi-Jaintia State based on mutual understanding.

“Even (late) Purno Agitok Sangma had made the movement his main political agenda in his last Lok Sabha elections in 2014,” Marak added.