Guwahati/Shillong, July 3: The Khasi community in Assam’s Karbi Anglong region has been there for ages along with the Karbis, but not yet represented politically like the latter. Time and again, situations force them to feel if they are in the wrong state as the same tribe’s condition in neighbouring Meghalaya is entirely different!
The miniscule 25,000 Khasi residents are now tense over the recent incident of Meghalaya residents uprooting a plantation by Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) in an area mired in inter-state border dispute.
The Khasi residents in Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts say they have endured decades of neglect and systemic discrimination by both the Assam government and the KAAC.
The indigenous Khasi community of Karbi Anglong also includes subgroups such as Kherwang Nongtung Labang, Nongpyllut, Pnar, Nongtriang, and Synteng. These communities have remained unrecognised and unrepresented.
“We have been here long before the district was even formed, yet we are treated like outsiders,” said Pynshngainlang Rattane, president of the United Khasi People’s Organisation (UKPO), Karbi Anglong Central Committee.
The Khasi people, whose roots in the area predate the creation of the Mikir Hills (now Karbi Anglong), were active participants in the movement to establish a separate administrative region in the 1940s, working alongside prominent leaders such as Semson Sing Ingti and Sarsing Teron Langkung Habe.
However, in the 74 years since KAAC’s formation, no Khasi representative has ever been elected as a Member of the Autonomous Council (MAC).
This exclusion has fuelled a growing sense of betrayal. “Our people have been left without basic rights, representation, or recognition,” Rattane added.
Community members have long suffered from poor healthcare, education, and infrastructure, and many now live in deteriorating conditions. Frustrated by bureaucratic apathy, some have even boycotted council elections.
While Chief Executive Member (CEM) Tuliram Ronghang has promised development projects such as a Khasi Community Hall at Amri and Chinthong and a Khasi Bhawan in Diphu, none of these have materialised. The community now views these announcements as empty rhetoric.
Repeated appeals to KAAC and government officials have gone unanswered or been dismissed outright. “Our community is like orphans in our own land,” said one community leader.
“We demand the rights and recognition we deserve.”
As the KAAC celebrates its 74th anniversary, the Khasi people of Karbi Anglong have remained sidelined. Their call is clear: justice, inclusion, and the basic amenities owed to any indigenous community.
