Editor,
It is commendable that Women’s College celebrated the social contributions of Vidyasagar Ishwar Chandra, the renowned educationist and reformer (Shillong Times, Sep 26, 2021). Ishwar grew up in extreme poverty, studying late into the night under a street lamp. He became a Sanskrit teacher. Recognising his scholarship, his teachers bestowed on him the title of ‘Vidyasagar’, meaning ‘ocean of knowledge’.
He promised his poor mother that he would buy her a gold ornament from his earnings as a teacher. When he went back to the village to fulfill his promise, she told him to use the money to start a school for girls. Eventually he opened 30 girls’ schools in Bengal, going door to door, urging parents to send their daughters to school.
He was distressed by the treatment and exploitation of widows in the name of religion. These widows had been married in childhood to older men, and when the husbands died, lived with stigma and poverty. Thousands turned to prostitution in the towns and cities. Vidyasagar drafted and campaigned for the Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856. He realised that unless girls and women were educated, it would not be possible to liberate them from the burden of inequality and injustice. It is said that half his salary and the royalties from his books was donated to his social work.
Apart from my admiration for his noble work, there is a personal note. He lived in a remote rural area in the last two decades of his life and started the first school for Santali tribal girls in a small village called Karmatar. A hundred years later my parents moved to this little village of a few hundred people, working in a church mission station with a school and dispensary. I spent my teenage years in this hamlet of spotlessly clean mud huts.
The village suffered during the famine of 1966–1967 in which several thousand died from starvation in UP and Bihar. Successive years of drought had caused a marked drop in grain production. Relief efforts by the government and voluntary organizations limited the impact, but we saw several dead bodies on the roadside and many were treated at our dispensary.
Shillong is privileged to have a multi-ethnic heritage. The Bengali community in particular has contributed to culture and education in a substantial way. The celebration of heroes such as Ishwar Chandra brings our community together.
Yours etc.,
Glenn C. Kharkongor,
Via email
Clash within Meghalaya Congress
Editor,
The clash between the top leaders within the Congress in Meghalaya is out in the open for everyone to see. This does not augur too well for the grand old party which hopes to bounce back to the saddle of power in 2023. The elevation of Vincent H Pala to the post of President of MPCC by the Congress High Command and the return of the former congress heavy weights into the Congress fold under the influence of Pamla was a threat to Dr Mukul ‘s leadership of the party. Hence Dr. Mukul and his bandwagon developed cold feet by not attending the induction of some prominent persons into the Party and installation of Pala as New Chief of MPCC. One can also clearly read from the events that Dr Mukul cannot see eye to eye with Pala in party matters and there are deep rooted differences between him and Pala. Above all the tussle for top honours in the state for becoming Leader of Congress Legislature Party has become clear. This rivalry is uppermost.
However, it will not be easy for the Congress party to succeed in in 2023 as it has to overcome many obstacles. First its leaders have to unite, Pala and his cohorts have to be united with Dr Mukul and his team. In the Congress of Garo Hills, Mukul is the undisputed leader much like what it was during (L) Purno Sangma’s time. But in Khasi and Jaintia Hills Pala is not the undisputed leader of the Congress party. He is yet to become one. Moreover, here the Congress is yet to emerge as the single largest party with a clear-cut undisputed leader. Pala is not experienced in state politics. He may be self- confident in steering the Congress because in three consecutive terms he had won as an MP and must have doled out MP schemes to many lucky ones. Pala has enough money to throw around to realise his political ambitions which will be converted simultaneously into business ambitions. If Congress remains a divided house here in Meghalaya it will miss the chance to regain power In Meghalaya and it will take a long time to resurrect. It will on the other hand be a golden opportunity for the NPP to strengthen and consolidate its fledgling position. Again, it will pave the way for unwanted victory of some mushroom parties which will again throw up a hung Assembly in 2023.
Yours etc.
Philip Marwein,
Sr. Journalist,
Via email