GUWAHATI, Jan 23: The Garo-Rabha Peace Council (GRPC), William Nagar, East Garo Hills in Meghalaya, drew the attention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the uprising in East Garo Hills district of Meghalaya and its bordering Goalpara district in Assam requesting him to do needful to restore normalcy.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, GRPC president Sikram Sangma and general secretary Jitendra Rabha requested him to (i) deploy more security forces to restore normalcy in the area, (ii) to deploy National Investigation Agency (NIA) to investigate the destructive role of nexus of Church, militant outfits, Bangladeshi Muslims, political leaders across the party line and dubious Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) etc, (iii)
to give Rs 1 lakh in cash and 10 bundles of CGI sheets (good quality) to each family whose houses have been burnt, (iv) to pay Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of each killed in the riot, (v) to provide sufficient food and health care facilities in all the affected areas, (vi) to provide utensils, stationeries and textbooks and exercise books to each school/ college going students from the victim families, (vii) to make permanent security arrangement to restore confidence of the people and to avoid the recurrence of violence, (viii) to identify the culprits and punish them, (ix) to resettle the affected families in their respective villages restoring their land to displaced persons, and (x) to provide clean drinking water in all relief camps and arrange sanitary facility to avoid the spread of epidemic.
According to Sangma and Rabha, the Garos are majority in East Garo Hills district where the Rabhas are minority, while the Rabhas are majority in Goalpara district where the Garos are minority. “Unfortunately, 85 per cent of the Garos have converted to Christianity in Meghalaya and Assam. The A’chik National Volunteers’ Council (ANVC) and the Garo National Liberation Force (GNLF) are two Christian militant outfits active in Garo Hills district of Meghalaya and Goalpara in Assam. Church is allegedly providing surveillance service and material help to these outfits... Again, there are Bangladeshi Muslims in sizeable number, most of whom have married Garo girls mostly from Christian converts. These neo-Muslims with Christian Garo girls as their house-wives have an eye on the fertile plain cultivable land owned by Rabha Hindus. The economic conditions of Rabha are not bad. They have matching economic condition. These Muslims want to oust Rabhas from their villages so that they can occupy displaced Rabhas’ land. These Muslims have formed a United Front comprising Garo Christians, Muslims and disgruntled non-Rabha groups. They are helping Garos in burning Rabha villages,” Sangma and Rabha told the Prime Minister, and added: “The Garos and Rabhas have been living together cordially for centuries. They have matrimonial relations with each other. They share their joys and sorrows on every festive occasions with each other. They participate in the festivals and domestic ceremonies of each other... Resubelpara is originally a Rabha village but after creation of separate Meghalaya State in 1971, Garos achieved more political mileage over Rabhas demographically. Again, ABDK (A’chik Baptist Dalgipa Krima - Garo Baptist Convention) held its next Baptist Church Convention in Darangiri village of Goalpara district in Assam in 2008. This village also has a mixed population of Garos and Rabhas. Here, Hindu Rabhas have little edge over Christian Garos. The people of the area talk of hidden agenda of Church in organizing two consecutive Baptist Church conversions in villages inhabitated mostly by Rabha Hindus. Garo Baptist Church foresees a rich harvest in Rabha Hindu community. Rabha Hindus and Garo Hindus resist this Church onslaught. But Church appears to be heavy over Rabha Hindus due to the hostile and unholy nexus between Church, militant outfits, Bangladeshi Muslims and selfish political leaders across the party line, including Meghalaya Government Machinery masked NGOs and anti-national Human Rights Organizations. Some of the Rabha Christians also are reported to be spying for Garo Churches against Rabha Hindus.”
The two GRPC leaders further told the Prime Minister that “in this area, 75% Rabhas voted in last Assembly election for the AGP, the rest 25% Rabha voters were shared by the NCP, the AIUDF and the Congress that has only one MLA from Rabhas whereas AGP has 3 MLAs, NCP 1, Independent 1 and the AUDF 2. And almost 75% Garos voted for the NCP and the rest 25% Garos votes were shared by the AGP, Congress and the AUDF. In view of approaching Assam Assembly election, the hidden role of some of the party politicians is also not ruled out. The doctrine of first making the voters displaced and destitute through mass killing, arson and loot with the help of antisocial elements and criminals and distribute the relief materials amongst the victims and thereby win them over to vote for them appears to be at work.”
They further said: “The missionary mission of Church is very aggressive and multipronged in this area. Before and after the Christmas, the programs of Church and door-to-door contact by missionaries are aggressive which Rabhas do not like. But they are helpless and they have to bear the brunt in silence due to fear of Christian terrorist outfits. Generally, during peace and normalcy, the conversion to Christianity does not occur in proportion to investments made by the Church in terms of men and money. The social chaos and civil uprising provide the golden opportunity to Church for rich harvest. The hostile role of Church during the Dimasa-Karbi clash in 2005 and Dimasa-Jeme upheaval in 2009 was witnessed. Similarly, the hostile role of Church is also experienced in current clash between the Garos and the Rabhas. This opinion is strengthened by the fact that altogether 10 mandirs of Rabha Hindus have been burnt down in various Rabha villages whereas not even a single Church is harmed. The missionary movement in the garb of rehabilitators are unchecked and unhindered in disturbed areas. Father S Santiago, Director of the Northeast Diocesan Social Forum said that land and border disputes led to clashes. The Catholic Church has constituted a joint peace mission. They have sought permission to setup relief camps for the victims. Garo Baptist Convention and other Church groups are in contact of leaders of both groups. These are nothing but rubbing salt on burn injuries of innocent Rabhas and Garos.”
