Shillong, Jan 5: The life-size statue of Khasi freedom fighter, U Tirot Sing at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC) of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in Dhaka will be unveiled in February.
Talking to The Shillong Times, Art and Culture Minister, Paul Lyngdoh on Friday informed that Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma along with other Cabinet ministers, officials, and traditional heads will be visiting Dhaka on February 15 to unveil the life-size statue of U Tirot Sing. A room dedicated to the freedom fighter will also be inaugurated, where U Tirot Sing’s detention letter and records from the British Library will be displayed.
“Major arts and crafts of the state will also be displayed,” he added.
The minister said that it is a major accomplishment of the government of the day.
Expressing happiness that his initiative to honour the Khasi freedom fighter materialised during his tenure as the minister, Lyngdoh said, ‘With this, U Tirot Sing is no longer a prominent figure in Meghalaya but we manage to make him a global figure”.
Earlier, the state government had emphasised to the Centre the need for setting up a memorial of U Tirot Sing in Bangladesh since the freedom fighter was jailed and also died in Dhaka, now the capital of the neighbouring country.
Tirot Sing, a tribal chief known as ‘the Hero of the Khasi Hills’, declared war against the British for their attempts to take control over Khasi Hills and led an attack on the colonial forces on April 8, 1829. He was captured four years later after the Anglo-Khasi War and died in the Dhaka Central Jail on July 17, 1835. The day is commemorated as U Tirot Singh Day in Meghalaya.
