SHILLONG, Dec 30: United Democratic Party (UDP) working president Paul Lyngdoh on Friday said the Khasi-Jaintia people were coerced to accede to India.
Stating that the present generation will not allow any other form of coercion, he said he will lead from the front to ensure that nobody tramples upon the rights of the people.
“We, the Khasi Jaintia people, were never a part of India until the advent of British India (in the Northeast) in 1826. We, in fact, are rulers. The traditional chieftains were coerced into acceding to India. But now, this generation will not allow any other form of coercion. I will lead from the front to ensure that we do not succumb to any pressure,” Lyngdoh said.
He made the statement in the context of Assam Police Special Branch’s “secret” letter, inquiring about the number of churches and the rate of conversion to Christianity in Assam.
Lyngdoh said it was not the tribal areas of the Northeast but the framers of the Indian Constitution who decided that the country should be secular and which is why, the word secular appears in the Constitution’s preamble.
“We, neither as ethnic minorities nor linguistic or religious minorities, wanted this particular word to be incorporated. The framers of the Constitution of India, led by the Constituent Assembly of this great country, decided that India should be secular,” he said, insisting that anything that goes against ideal should be opposed tooth and nail.
“I stand committed to the principles which I learnt as a student of political science. I have also seen the original copy of the Constitution of India which clearly calls it a secular country. Therefore, the heart of a country of the size and population of India cannot be small. If the heart of India gets small, it will only face resistant, opposition and anarchy,” he added.
On the state BJP, he said it is difficult to know what is going on in its mind but “we are here to commemorate the death anniversary of U Kiang Nongbah, an ordinary village boy who led the people of Pnar region to oppose the mighty British empire. With that same spirit, we will put up resistance of any form to make sure nobody tramples upon our lives and we live as free people.”
