The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) on Wednesday lodged a first information report (FIR) against the Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) for trying to incite religious and communal tension between different communities in the state.
The FIR was filed by KSU legal affairs secretary James H Mawphniang with the Superintendent of Police (City) Vivek Syiem.
The LRO had uploaded a video on the July 24-incident where a shopkeeper and her son were assaulted and robbed by miscreants and alleging in its tweets that the KSU were the ones attacking devotees, priest and women in Mahadevkhola temple and that the attack was instigated by the Presbyterian Church.
Speaking to reporters, KSU general secretary Donald V Thabah said the allegations made by the LRO on an incident, is totally unjustified and baseless.
He said, “We would like to state that by blaming the Church and by blaming the Union that we are involved in that incident is very wrong as the KSU is not affiliated to any religious groups be it the Catholic, the Presbyterian or the traditional faiths – we are not related to any of them. The KSU stands for the welfare and the protection and safeguard of the entire Khasi people. So we do not indulge in any activities which might be detrimental to any particular religious groups.”
Thabah said that with the recent scenario in India, the LRO is trying to bring a religious colour to this issue in which they want to pitch between Hindu and the tribal Christians.
“They want the support from all over India against the tribals not only Meghalaya but the entire North East region. This is very wrong because the community and KSU has been engaging in the fight against illegal immigration in the state and there has never been an instance where a religious place is being attacked or the name of a particular religion is being taken. Usually we want that we should be protected within our rights so that we will not be overwhelmed and the demographic structure of the state will not change,” he said.
He said Meghalaya has been plague by illegal immigrants since 1971 and till date because “we are bereft of any mechanisms or any laws which will protect tribal communities from the influx of outsiders, like ILP or certain protections like the Article 371 (a) or 371 (g) that are present in Nagaland and Mizoram. We do not have such acts as the Government of India does not provide that.”
“Due to this, the KSU and other organizations have to step in to protect the rights of the minority tribal indigenous community of Meghalaya. With that there are so many conflicts with these illegal immigrants, these outsiders.”
Meanwhile, the KSU has reiterated its demand to the forest department to remove all illegal settlers at Mahadevkhola.