Williamson A. Sangma

Williamson Ampang Sangma (18 October 1919 – 25 October 1990) was a Garo leader from India and the first Chief Minister of Meghalaya. He also served as Governor of Mizoram from July 1989 to February 1990.

Williamson was a statesman, tribal leader, and a pioneer in leading the struggle for the creation of Meghalaya state.

Biography Williamson was born in Baghmara, South Garo Hills district.

Political career Sangma represented the Baghmara assembly constituency several times, even after merging his political outfit into the Congress (I) party. Williamson A. Sangma, along with Salseng C. Marak, Mukul M. Sangma and Conrad K. Sangma, are the only Chief Ministers of Meghalaya to have completed a full term of five years in office.

Hill state movement With prior military service, Sangma entered the political field in 1952, and subsequently was elected as the Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC). On 16 June 1954, the members of the executive committees of the Autonomous District Council of the Garo Hills (GHADC), the Khasi Hills (Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council), the Jaintia Hills (Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council), the Lushai Hills (Mizo Hills), and the North Cachar Hills District Council held a meeting at Shillong, and pleaded for the establishment of a separate Hill state on the ground that there was no adequate safeguard for the preservation of the identity of the hill people in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The meeting demanded the creation of a separate state for all the hill areas of Assam, to be called "Eastern Hill State." Accordingly, they, including W.A. Sangma as the Chief, sent a set of suggestions for the amendment of the Sixth Schedule to the members of Indian parliament.

Though Wilson Reade, chairman of the Khasi National Durba, was the first one to demand a separate hill state, it was Sangma who accelerated the movement successfully. He led the sustained struggle by the Garos, the Jaintas, and the Khasis for the hill state from the 1950s. As first Chief Executive Member of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC), Sangma called a conference of the people of the autonomous hill districts of then Assam at Tura on 6–8 October 1954, to consider the demand of a hill state. An appeal was sent to the leaders of all the tribal organisations and parties of the autonomous districts to sign the memorandum. Under his leadership, the conference passed the resolution to submit a memorandum to the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) for the formation of a separate "Eastern Hills State." The memorandum emphasising the following points was submitted to the SRC: The people of the hills and the plains differed from each other, The attempt of the Assamese people to impose their language and culture on the hill tribes, The Assamese dominance in the legislature and the services, and The autonomy granted under the Sixth Schedule was not adequate.

The separate state question became an election issue in the 1957 general elections in Assam. The EITU, United Mizo Freedom Organization (UMFO), the Mizo Union, and the Garo National Union captured a majority of seats giving the impetus and popular mandate for the Hills Movement, while the Congress lost all five seats in the United Khasi-Jaintia Hills, three seats in Garo Hills, and one seat in Mikir Hills and North Cachar Hills. Bimala Prasad Chaliha, with the confidence from the hills people, became Chief Minister of Assam. In 1957, Sangma was elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly. In the following year, he joined the cabinet of Assam to look after the departments of tribal regions, information, publicity, and transport. After Indian independence, when the Nagas declared war against India, the tribes inhabiting the Khasi-Jhantia-Garo Hills extended co-operation to Government of Assam. As a result, Williamson Sangma became a member of the cabinet of Chaliha, Chief Minister of Assam, as a minister in charge of the "Tribal Areas Department." When the Assamese language bill was passed in spite of opposition from tribal people, later, he resigned from the cabinet to fight for the cause of separate statehood.

If in 1960 Assamese were not made the state language we could have stayed as inhabitant of the same state like brothers.

With the realisation of Meghalaya as a state, it ultimately united the areas of the Khasi, Jainta, and the Garo Hills under the leadership of Williamson Sangma. He being one of the major leaders of the hill statehood movement, he always craved a better deal for the Garos, who were economically worse off than their Khasi-Jainta brethren. He also made sure the Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE), which he considered to be of prime importance, was in Garo Hills.

In his honour After his death in 1999, succeeding Government of Meghalaya honoured him by naming of public properties, including educational institutes, after him. The State Museum of Meghalaya, founded in 1975, was named the Captain Williamson Sangma State Museum The headquarters of the East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, was named after him as Williamnagar. Baljek Airport in West Garo Hills is named after him. Captain Williamson Sangma Technical University in Tura, Meghalaya. Capt Williamson Memorial College, at Baghmara, in 1994.