SHILLONG: UDP leader Bindo Lanong has slammed BJP parliamentarian from Maharashtra Gopal Shetty for saying that Christians did not contribute to the freedom struggle.
“Christians were angrez (British), so they didn’t participate in India’s freedom struggle,” was the comment made by Shetty at a function recently.
However, Lanong said on Sunday that everyone, irrespective of religious affiliations, contributed to the freedom struggle.
He pointed out that the first vice president of the Constituent Assembly of India for drafting the Constitution of India, HC Mookherjee, was a Christian and he was appointed on January 25, 1947.
Even another stalwart from the North East, Rev. JJM Nichols Roy, who was part of the framing of the Indian Constitution, believed in universal brotherhood of all Indians irrespective of caste, creed and religion, Lanong said.
The veteran leader said way back in 1756, when the Britishers came to Dhaka, they had established contacts with Khasi Hills.
