Shillong, Oct 30: The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) launched its platinum jubilee celebration on Friday with a tribute to JJM Nichols Roy, the architect of the Sixth Schedule.
Guest speaker Rev Dr OL Snaitang explained Nichols Roy’s contribution and said when India attained Independence, there was a British plan to create a special Crown Colony including the Khasi-Jaintia Hills.
Rev Nichols Roy strongly opposed it. A meeting was convened in Shillong where he spoke against the plan, particularly concerning Jaintia Hills, he said.
Had the Crown Colony plan materialised, like in Hong Kong, it would have been on lease for 33 to 99 years before being handed over to any country the British wished, he noted.
Rev Snaitang said after the plan was shelved and Khasi-Jaintia Hills joined India, there was another move to create a Sylhet Province including Jaintia Hills. A map was even drawn, but Rev Nichols Roy fought to shelve it too. “We however still lost Jaintia Pargana and Jaintiapur and Pandua, which were international markets of the Khasi-Jaintia region,” he said.
He recalled that after Independence, 25 Khasi Chiefs signed the Instrument of Accession and Annexed Agreement between December 15, 1947 and March 19, 1948, the last being Syiem Sib Sing of Hima Nongstoin.
Thereafter, Rev Nichols Roy met Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, BR Ambedkar and Gopinath Bordoloi, urging that the Khasi Chiefs should not be forced to sign the Instrument of Merger signed by over 500 princely states, which dissolved their authority.
Instead, he advocated the Sixth Schedule to safeguard traditional institutions, land, culture and identity of tribal people within the Indian Union.
