By Dr. Omarlin Kyndiah
On 30th December this year, when we observe the 161th Martyrdom day of U Kiang Nangbah, it is most pertinent for us to recall the prophetic message that he uttered from the gallows to his countrymen: “Brothers and sisters please look carefully on my face when I die on the gallows. If my face turns toward the east, my country will be free from the foreign yoke within a hundred years; if it turns toward the west, my country will remain in bondage forever”. True to his words, less than a hundred years later India gained independence on 15th August 1947.
While observing the 76th year of Independence, we are reminded of how India fought to free it from the shackles of Colonial rules, and the stories still reverberate in our hearts. From the Great Revolt of 1857 to the attainment of independence in 1947 lakhs of freedom fighters fought to free the country from the British Tyranny. Indian freedom was a long struggle. It started with the revolt of 1857, which is twenty-two years after the Jaintia Kingdom was annexed by the British. The Indian National Movement was one of the biggest mass movements the world has ever seen. It was a movement that inspired millions of people of all classes and ideologies into political action and brought to its knees a mighty colonial empire.
In the context of the Jaintias, though the event of 1857 had no major impact, yet the reforms that were carried had an important effect down to the Jaintias.
The British annexed the Jaintia Kingdom in 1835 and adopted a policy of least interference and left the Jaintia people almost entirely to themselves for a period of more than two decades. During these periods Kiang Nangbah became fully aware of the policies and plan of the British to impose authority on the Jaintias.
The British realised that political, administrative, and financial control exercised by them was primarily based on the bayonet, they attempted to justify their colonial power on ideological grounds. They did it by establishing cultural hegemony over the locals. This is done by arguing that the local cultures were decadent and inferior and that those of the colonial masters were superior. The conversion of a number of Jaintias and using them to expand their base by the church caused suspicions about the real intentions of the British in the minds of the people.
However, the anti-British feelings started when the British India Government attempted to impose taxes and interfered with the custom and religious activities of the people. These acts are viewed by the people as an attempt of the British to impose authority and make the people “submissive to the authority” and to “acknowledge the supremacy of the British government”. In 1860-61, The British imposed a house tax and income tax and also prohibition of cremation of the dead- a traditional practice of the indigenous faith. These activities led to the revolt of the Jaintias against British imperialism. A man of commitment to his people, U Kiang Nangbah could not remain indifferent to their plight. He took up leadership of the Rebellion in January 1862 to wage a war against the colonial ruler. The colonial records attest to the fact that it could be suppressed after prolonged and arduous military operations and that the government found it difficult in the face of his guerrilla tactics.
The British had to reinforce regiments to conduct a full-scale military operation against U Kiang Nangbah and his men and yet the British described it as a “Little War”.
Today we are constrained to admit that the dreams of our freedom fighters have largely remained unrealised even if India can justifiably boast of having maintained its image as the world’s largest democracy. India- a nation that was built with pluralism under a democratic leadership today has been transformed from democracy to mobocracy. But what is more alarming is the social unrest that has gripped the nation with mounting assault on minorities as an integral part of the majoritarian onslaught which has increased phenomenally in the recent past. If U Kiang Nangbah is alive he would be in tears to see the state affairs of his beloved country.
Today, as we remember the supreme sacrifices that U Kiang Nangbah and other freedom fighters had contributed for the freedom of our motherland, let all differences and squabble, allergies and misunderstanding, be set aside, join hands and march shoulder to shoulder to fight the enemy from within. Jai Hind!