Describe the tribal uprising of Meghalya.
Answers
The nature of these revolts was agrarian and forest based because, agriculture and forests was their everything. Their anger was against the exploitation by moneylenders and the petty government officials, normally over the land and forest rights.
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Policemen in Shillong: Spreading praire fire
When the tribals hit out in Meghalaya it almost seemed to be a repeat of Assam, from which it broke away to set up a separate state in 1971. The issues were similar, and so were the means which the tribals employed to gain their demands. India Today's Correspondent Arul B. Louis travelled to the state once so well-known for its belief in peaceful negotiations. His report:
Spreading like a wild prairie fire the current agitation against foreigners leapt from the Brahmputra valley to the hills of Meghalaya last fortnight amidst ominous signs. Thousands of tribals courted arrest during a three-day satyagraha programme sponsored by an Assam-style students' organisation - the Meghalaya Students' Union (MSU) from May 19-21. Politics makes strange bedfellows and student politics is no different.
The hill tribals who had waged untiring struggle during the '60s against Assamese domination and won a separate state for themselves in 1971 with the division of Assam have made common cause with the agitating Assamese on the issue of infiltration by foreigners.
Even though their complaints are not only against the Bangladeshis but they also complain against Indians from the other states who they believe are eating into their slice of the economic cake - it is the hordes fleeing the neighbouring country who have now been singled out. Said Ripple Kyndiah, leader of the Opposition in Meghalaya Legislative Assembly: "The students' movement is directed against the Bangladeshis only. The greatest danger is from them and we have to tackle them first." The population of Bengalis, claim the opposition leaders in Meghalaya, grew in their state by 77 per cent during the decade 1961-71 as against the tribals growth rate of 28 per cent. They claim that the Bangladeshi infiltrators now number 150,000 in an estimated population of about 1.3 million.