Row over adopting father’s surname in matrilineal Meghalaya 

A tribal council’s order not to issue a Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate to any Khasi person who adopts the surname of her or his father has triggered a war of words in matrilineal Meghalaya. 

GUWAHATI A tribal council’s order not to issue a Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate to any Khasi person who adopts the surname of her or his father has triggered a war of words in matrilineal Meghalaya. 

The Khasis, numbering about 1.39 lakh, are one of the three indigenous matrilineal communities in the northeastern State. The other two are Garos and Jaintias. 

The Voice of the People Party (VPP), an 18-month-old political entity that won four Assembly seats in the February 27 election, has been critical of the order of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) order about a month ago. 

In that order, the KHADC directed the headmen of all villages and urban localities across the Khasi domain not to issue ST certificates to those who adopt their father’s surname instead of sticking to tradition by taking their mother’s clan name. 

“I will fight for my children if there is an attempt to take away their right of being called Khasis,” VPP president and MLA, Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said at a public meeting in the State’s Nongpoh recently. 

His children are using his surname. 

“Why can they not be considered Khasi when my wife and I are Khasis?” he asked.