SHILLONG: Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR), a progressive people’s group of the state, has condemned the act of the residents of Madan Iing Syiem, Mylliem who tried to prevent the cremation of an elder of the Seng Khasi in a residential area on Friday, terming it “intolerant” and “fundamentalist.”
Residents of Madan Iing Syiem had opposed the cremation of Kulam Nongrum’s body opposing that it was being done in a residential area. However, it was only after the intervention of the district administration and an offer of space by the Seng Khasi Hima Mylliem that Nongrum could be cremated.
In a press statement, the group criticized the act of the residents and said that “the fundamentalist and intolerant behaviour of the some of the Christian majority of the village ensured that the solemn funeral procession was also an occasion for hurling insult on the adherents of the indigenous faith”.
“This was not an aberration. This has been happening in that area for the last 20 odd years. This climate of intolerance has meant that most adherents of Niam Khasi in this area have had no choice but to bury their dead going against their deeply held religious belief of cremation,” the press statement said.
The group said that even intervention by the Lyngdoh – traditional priest to give land for the last rites to followers of Niam Khasi of the area, has been a target of a legal civil suit as well as an attack in September 2016, where the village majority desecrated the allotted space and prevented Niam Khasi people from performing their rituals.
Today, after the family of Nongrum was refused land for cremation by the dorbar, they approached the Seng Khasi who gave them space at the private property of the Iing Seng.
“Thma U Rangli-Juki has even protested the attempts by the BJP-run government to enact anti minority, anti-conversion laws and anti cow slaughter laws to appease the Hindu majority. But we cannot sit silent when the same persecuted religious minority becomes a majority (like in Meghalaya) and behaves in the same authoritarian and fascist way,” the group said.
“Meghalaya may be a Christian majority state but it is not a “Christian State’. It is a state of a secular republic called India. As a majority, Christians need to acknowledge and respect culture, faith and tradition of minorities of whichever persuasion they belong,” the press statement added.
