TURA: It was an Italian priest by the name of Father Giovanni Battista Busolin who brought P.A. Sangma to Tura from his home village of Chapahati, close to the Bangladesh border in Mahendraganj, so that the young boy could return to school.
After the death of his father he dropped out of school due to poverty at age 11 and had to tend to cattle in return for a meal in the village.
Father Busolin, now in his 90s and living a quiet life in Tura, along with late father Bucceri helped in getting young Purno admitted to a school in the border town of Dalu after his arrival in Tura.
He was given a place to stay at the Dalu Catholic parish and attended the Dalu Govt. High School.
In the words of his friend and now retired Bishop of Tura, Rt. Rev. George Mamalassary, “Besides attending to school Purno volunteered to help the junior students of the lower primary school with their studies which was something remarkable for a young boy who was 13 at that point of time.”
Taken under the care of Dalu parish priest Father Mathew, he wrote his Class X matriculation examination coming out with flying colours.
“The then school deputy inspector visited Dalu parish to inquire from Father Mathew about Purno Sangma. When asked about the reason he replied that it was because the boy had excelled in his Matric examination and his answers were so well written that the officer wanted to personally meet him,” recalled Bishop Mamalassary.
He would then be sent to Shillong for his college education and later became a lawyer as well as a journalist ultimately entering politics that propelled him so high up none could defeat him. “He was always keen to study and learn more. He always wanted to join politics and he went on to do so after his graduation in law,” said Bishop Mamalassary.
Friends with many political leaders, he came close to moving into Raisina Hill after the BJP along with the AIADMK of J. Jayalalitha and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal endorsed his candidature for the President of India’s election, later backed by the BJP.
