Stay away from M’laya: KSU warns VHP

SHILLONG, April 4: The KSU on Thursday asked the “non-native” Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) not to interfere in the internal matters of the Bri U Hynniewtrep.
“The VHP is a foreign agency and organization. We want to tell it not to interfere in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills since we have never interfered in their matters in mainland India,” KSU general secretary, Donald V. Thabah said while reacting to the VHP’s letter urging President Droupadi Murmu to intervene in the death of two non-tribal migrant labourers at Ichamati after an anti-CAA rally.
Stating that the VHP is claiming to be a nationalist organisation which cares for all the  communities, he said it is sad they care about the illegal immigrants in Meghalaya.
“We feel the VHP should have looked at issues afflicting the indigenous community. This reflects its double standards,” Thabah said.
He said if the VHP is really concerned about the affairs of the state, it should take stock of its members in Shillong who had taken out a rally on a Sunday last year in front of the Grace Covenant Church and the Laban Presbyterian Church.
He said the VHP members had tried to intimidate and threaten the faithful who were attending the church services by shouting “Jai Shree Ram”.
The inability of the VHP to control its members indicates it is an organisation with some ulterior motive, he added.
“We are not afraid and will not allow the VHP to overpower the Khasi indigenous community,” Thabah said.
In his letter to President Murmu, VHP secretary general Bajrang Bagra claimed that the two migrant labourers were “brutally murdered” at Ichamati, a village in the East Khasi Hills district.
“The irony is that the district is exempted from the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) by being a Sixth Scheduled state. It is the place where a pressure group organised an anti-CAA rally which led to the murder of two innocent Hindus by unknown miscreants, as widely reported in the media,” Bagra wrote.
Thabah said if the Meghalaya Linguistic Development Forum decides to hold a protest at Ichamati against the harassment of the migrants, the KSU will also agitate against atrocities and harassment of “our people”.