Reading Guv’s speech was much easier than listening, says Meghalaya Cabinet Minister Paul Lyngdoh
Staff Reporter
Shillong, March 20: United Democratic Party leader and cabinet minister Paul Lyngdoh today said reading the Governor’s speech was far better than listening to a language which he can hardly understand.
Lyngdoh told reporters that rule 28 of the rules and conduct of the business of the State Assembly is very clear that a member can make a submission in his mother tongue provided that the same copy of the speech is made available to the Speaker.
“Ideally speaking, though when you communicate I would have preferred an address in a language that I can thoroughly understand but today to compensate that what I did was read the Governor’s speech in English and reading is far better because you internalise all points of the speech better than listening to a language which I can only half understand,” he said.
The cabinet minister added, “The speech was placed on the table of every member. Two, what he delivered was an abridged version of the speech. He did not cover the entire speech which was covered by the written text. The written text had many pages but the governor spoke barely 15 minutes.”
His statement came after the VPP legislators had staged a walkout in protest against Governor Phagu Chauhan for delivering his address in Hindi during the first day of the Assembly’s budget session.
Lyngdoh however said the opposition will do its duty and the treasure is also supposed to do its duty. He also maintained that there is no question of any imposition and said, “Hindi is considered the official even constitutionally Hindi is the official language of this country, it is not the international language of this country.”