Tnt Apr Cover Story 22-23

Meghalaya By the toss of a coin

entry of any MLA representing the ruling coalition. However, the situation quelled after much persuasions, but not before leaving a sense of insecurity in the minds of people.

Shillong shocked not rocked

Election by the toss of a coin? Sounds impossible. Isn’t it? But it has happened in the history of Indian democracy and that happened in our backyard. The sitting MLA of Kherapara constituency of Garo Hills Roster M Sangma lost his re-election bid in 1988 to Independent candidate Chamberline Marak of Dimapara, who was declared elected in a toss of coin. Both the candidates secured equal number of votes. Sangma was the sitting Congress MLA elected in 1983. Roster Sangma passed away recently in a Mumbai hospital. Truly, truth is stranger than fiction.

Tura killings

It was almost like the Tiananmen Square incident of China coming alive in Meghalaya, when scores of students protesting against the shifting of the Meghalaya Board of Secondary Education from Tura were charged with batons and volley of bullets that left nine dead and more than hundred injured. It was the combined team of state police and CRPF, which opened fire to disperse the “stone-throwing rallyists”, agitating on the MBOSE issue, in the West Garo Hills town of Tura on September 30, 2005. Firing also took place at Williamnagar where similar demonstration was on. The incident was so shocking that the entire Garo Hills was up in arms against the ruling party and imposed a ban on the 22

April 08

Assam

Cover Story

Shillong, the Mecca of rock music was going to host the biggest and the worst Heavy metal band in the world (or so they claimed). Only three days ago, Shillong had an audience of 20,000 fans for the Mr. Big show (that very day Beyonce had played to only around 2000 fans in Mumbai). With bands like Firehouse and MLTR playing to an packed house before it was supposed to be a huge blockbuster to see and hear the Beasts from Brasil live and upfront. When the show started there were only 700 people turned up and by the end there was only 1000 odd people. The security was more than the fans. The biggest and the worst band was tamed and bought back to mother earth. Probably even local bands in a school fete play to a larger audience. What an irony!!

cave in the Indian subcontinent with a length of 1297 m. It has a very large entrance with a stream running down its main passage. These are all in East Khasi Hills district. Krem Um Lawan Cave in Jaintia Hills has its history rooted in myths and legends. It is the longest and deepest in South East Asia. Lt 6,381 m -106.8 m. A cave of Eocene age, it has an upper fossil passage and a lower active passage with numerous cataracts and waterfalls. Krem Kotsati Cave has eight entrances and is 3650 m long. The main entrance is entered via a deep pool. Portions of this cave have to be traversed by swimming or by using an inflatable rubber boat. There are numerous caves in Garo Hills like the Siju-Dobkhakol with a length 4772 m, which is the third longest cave in the Indian sub-continent and is situated on the bank of the Simsang river just below the village of Siju. One reason for the abundance of caves could be the heavy rain in the region reacting with the limestone deposits. What a pleasant surprise

The Caves Of Meghalaya

Meghalaya – the abode of the clouds – is also a land of numerous caves, with more than 500 such caves lying in various parts of the region. Mr B.D. Kharpan Daly, the General Secretary of the Shillong based Meghalaya Adventurers Association, which was formed in 1990, deserves all the kudos for unearthing those caves. As per the findings, Krem Mawmluh is situated approximately half a kilometre west of Cherrapunjee adjacent to the small hamlet of Mawmluh. This cave has five river passages of impressive proportions. With a length of 4503 m it is currently the fourth longest in the Indian sub continent. Krem Phyllut is situated in the village of Mawsmai, south of Cherrapunjee. The cave has a large section of fossil passage, two stream ways and three entrances. Length: 1003 m. Krem Soh Shympi, Mawlong, E. Khasi Hills This 760 m long cave has a large pothole entrance 20 m deep. The cave passage is very large with numerous formations at one end. Mawsynram, 58 kms from Shillong. Krem Dam, the largest sandstone

Nellie massacre

Anti-foreigners movements in Assam and in the rest of Northeast took an ugly turn in 1983, when more than 1800 migrant workers were slaughtered in five hours at a place called Nellie. The infamous Nellie massacre took place during the anti-foreigners movement led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) from 1979 to 1985. The incident was directly triggered by the central governments decision to hold the state legislative assembly election, which invited a boycott by the movement leaders. As a result of the confrontations between the people who supported and opposed the election, there were numerous violent incidents among communities and the worst incident was the Nellie massacre. Until now, it has been said that the land deprivation by the Muslim migrants from East Bengal region is the cause of the large-scale killing. The plains tribe called the Tiwas tra-

ditionally inhabited in the Nellie area, but after the British occupation they were marginalised. The top leaders of the Assam movement denied their involvement in the massacre, and implicitly suggested that it was initiated by the Tiwas. However, the Muslim

migrants and Tiwas in this area consider the movement and the election as a prime cause of the massacre, and, these groups denied that there are disputes over land between them. It can be said that the interpretations of collective violence (such as a large-scale April 08

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