Meghalaya: KSU Gen Sec says posters targetting Bengali community a 'mild reaction' to months of attacks

Shillong: Lashing out against the Bengali community for "relentless attacks" on Khasis ever since the violence at Ichimati in Meghalaya, Khasi Students' Union (KSU) General Secretary Donald Thabah has termed the display of 'racial' posters as a "mild reaction."

"For several months, the Khasi community of Meghalaya has been accused by these groups of discrimination and they have written to leaders across the nation. Naturally, this has painted a very very negative picture of the local Khasis," Thabah told Inside Northeast.

Thabah said that the vilification of the Khasis was what led the KSU, the most influential student body in the state, to display posters as a mark of dissent. "They have been doing this time and again, but we kept quiet. They took our silence as our weakness. For one day, we decided to vent some of the pent up anger by organizing a series of protests. We have chosen to stay quiet again, but if these groups continue poking us, we will be forced to lash out again," he said.

After a racial campaign of influential students body—Khasi Stuents Union (KSU) against Bengali in Shillong, the state government has appealed to all communities to maintain peace and harmony ahead of the festive season in Meghalaya.

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The KSU had put up posters racially profiling the Bengali community accusing all Bengalis in the state of being ‘Bangladeshis’, prompting the state police to remove the posters and warn of action against those trying to “incite communal disharmony.

The banners and posters, reading “All Meghalaya Bengalis are Bangladeshis”, were alleged to have been put up by the KSU.

Police however said that for the interest of communal harmony, the KSU should refrain from indulging in such activities otherwise legal action would be taken against those trying to disturb peace and harmony.

Former Meghalaya governor Tathagata Roy, also a BJP leader in Kolkata, tweeted: “I say this taking full responsibility as ex-governor of Meghalaya: KSU needs to be banned just like HNLC. It is an anti-national terrorist organisation, threatening Indian citizens, some of whom are residents of Meghalaya since British times. Like my family on both sides.” The Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council is a banned militant outfit in Meghalaya.

The KSU General Secretary has said that some organizations -- with the support of influential politicians like Roy -- are trying to defame the Khasi community of the state. "They have the support of Roy and others. We have also been threatened by some extremist organizations," he told us.

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