Our Bureau
SHILLONG/ TURA/ NONGPOH, June 9: The government and the people of nature-blessed Meghalaya faced a volley of abuses since the body of Indore tourist Raja Raghuvanshi was recovered from a gorge near Sohra on June 2.
All those who criticised the state over the safety of tourists vanished into thin air after the Meghalaya Police cracked the case in seven days, establishing that the newly-wed businessman’s murder was planned in his home town.
For a week, social media pages were filled with derogatory comments on Meghalaya, as many in Madhya Pradesh and even Assam termed the hill state as unsafe for tourists.
After Raja’s wife Sonam surrendered to the police in Uttar Pradesh early Monday morning and the arrest of four others, citizens of Meghalaya, social activists and groups are now demanding an apology from those who targeted the state through slanderous remarks, social media, press statements, or politically motivated interviews.
The coordinated attack to “boycott Meghalaya” and tarnish its image amounts to a dangerous propaganda war against one of India’s most peaceful tribal states, they observed.
The president of the Federation of Shillong Hotels, PS Sehdave, said they are relieved and happy that the murder case has been resolved. “This clearly appears to be an internal matter of the family and has nothing to do with ‘crime in Meghalaya’, as alleged by the family and a section of the national media,” he said.
Asserting that Meghalaya is a tourist-friendly place and the people are among the most hospitable, he said a wrong picture of Meghalaya had been painted because of this incident.
He appreciated the untiring efforts of the Meghalaya government and the state Police in making the much-needed breakthrough.
Some residents of Shillong admitted that the past week had been tough as the state was heavily criticised for a crime orchestrated by people from Indore.
Zaheer Ahmed, who runs a chain of homestays in Shillong, said the national media, instead of shouting at the top of their lungs from the studios, must come to the ground to verify the facts.
“There were people who were claiming that people here do kidney business and all of them should be punished and a case should be taken up against them,” he said.
Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) president Dundee Cliff Khongsit noted that the organisation had chosen to remain silent during the investigation, placing trust in the police.
Now, with emerging evidence pointing to Sonam’s alleged involvement, Khongsit expressed appreciation for the successful arrests.
A’chik Youth Welfare Organization (AYWO) has also issued a statement condemning the “pernicious” and “prejudiced” narratives propagated against the state and its indigenous people in the wake of a crime involving the disappearance of a tourist couple from Indore in Meghalaya.
While calling upon the state government to take “decisive action” to safeguard the state’s dignity and honour and initiate legal action against the brother of the deceased, AYWO urged the government to address the “broader” defamatory campaign by engaging with national media to ensure accountability and demand retraction of their misleading reports.
National People’s Youth Front (NPYF) president Nickey Nongkhlaw commiserated Raja’s death and extended gratitude to the police, NDRF and SDRF and all others who contributed to the search and rescue.
He criticised some national media outlets for jumping to conclusions and spreading misinformation without facts, saying such actions deeply hurt the sentiments of the people of Meghalaya, especially those in Sohra.
The NPYF president also called out online commentators for unfairly blaming locals and urged them to now issue public apologies.
Nongkhlaw concluded by applauding the police for their swift and effective action, solving the case and arresting the accused within just seven days — an achievement he described as highly commendable.
Social activist Cherian Momin expressed deep distress over the “parallel trial” by media, irresponsible accusations against Meghalaya Police, and uninformed propaganda against the peace-loving people of the state, before the facts were even established. He urged Vipul Raghuvanshi to retract his defamatory statement, calling for CBI intervention, casting doubt on Sonam’s arrest, and accusing the police of withholding information. He also commended the efforts of Meghalaya Police, Special Response Team (SRT), and local volunteers who worked round the clock to trace the facts, unearth the truth, and bring the guilty to justice.
He called for the Meghalaya government, under Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, to take a firm stand in support of its institutions and initiate legal action against those individuals and media outlets who defamed the state and misled the public. He called upon national media houses to issue official corrections and apologies for their one-sided reporting, saying journalistic responsibility must not be abandoned in the name of sensationalism.