Shillong, Oct 11: The North Eastern Hills University today organized a one day Seminar and Exhibition on Tribal Heroes in India’s Freedom Struggle in collaboration with National Commission for Scheduled Tribes in its campus which was attended by the faculty members, scholars and students of NEHU and its affiliated colleges.
Prof. Ganga Prasad Prasain, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor of Tripura University graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and Shri Ananta Nayak, Hon’ble member of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour. Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla.
The Vice-Chancellor of NEHU presided as the Chairman while other dignitaries and guests present were Dr. Kestonwell Manik Syiem, Deputy Syiem of Nongkhlaw Syiemship, Shri. Konthang Touthang, Joint Secretary, NCST and Dr. Kedar A Kulkarni of Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.
Prof. Shobhan N. Lamara, Department of History, NEHU was the resource person from NEHU who presented a lecture on the contribution of the tribals of Meghalaya in the freedom struggle.
“Although it is important to remember the leaders who sacrificed their lives for the country, we should also acknowledge the people at the grassroot level who gave their lives for the freedom of this great nation” he said. He also discussed in detail about the contribution of the jaintia people who fought tirelessly against the British.
Dr. Kedar A Kulkarni of Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram elaborated on the sacrifices made by the tribals of the entire country in attaining freedom. He said, the presence of tribals in our country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and North-East to the state of Gujarat has played an important role in repelling the Britishers.
Although many names have been forgotten, research should be done to find out the countributions of the tribals in the freedom struggle. Shri Ananta Nayak, Hon’ble member of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes who graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour exhorted on the point that the Britishers always perceived that the way of life tribals were lowly and their perception was proved wrong when the tribals raised their voices and weapons against them.
He also mentioned about the strong will of the tribals to defend their culture, customs and lands against the British. In his speech, Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, the Vice-Chancellor of NEHU particularly spoke about the contributions of the unsung heroes of Meghalaya- U Tirot Sing Syiem, U Kiang Nangbah, Pa Togan Sangma and Ka Phan Nonglait.
He exhorted that it is only right, just and about time that we make ourselves and our youth about the sacrifices made by our forefathers so that this great nation attains freedom and reach greater heights and write its name in the history book and when we talk about the freedom struggle, it is not just the heroes from the plains we should be remembering, the tribal heroes have contributed as much in the struggle for independence as much as the other known freedom fighters.
“There is no better place than an educational institution to hold and conduct these types of programme as we all know University is where thousands of young minds gather shape the future of the country. Therefore, I would like to encourage our young students to keep their minds open to discuss about the sacrifices of the unsung heroes of our region” he said.
The Chief Guest of the Programme, Prof. Ganga Prasad Prasain spoke about the importance of re-writing history and highlighted about the contribution of the tribal heroes in the freedom struggle.
He also mentioned that it is the right time to re-write the history and change the syllabus as the NEP 2020 is being implemented. He concluded that NEHU being one the prestigious universities in the country, its History Department can contribute a lot in re-writing the history syllabus.
