A statue of U Tirot Sing, a freedom fighter from Khasi Hills who rebelled against the British some 200 years ago, will be installed at a library, also likely to be named after him, in Bangladesh, senior Meghalaya minister Paul Lyngdoh said on Monday.
The library and the statue will come up at the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC) of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in Dhaka.
“India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh has said that the Ministry of External Affairs has consented to establish a memorial of U Tirot Sing, India’s prominent freedom fighter and a leader of the Khasi people, at the IGCC in Dhaka,” Lyngdoh told PTI.
The state’s arts and culture minister said that the Meghalaya government had emphasised to the Centre the need for setting up a memorial in Bangladesh since the freedom fighter was jailed and also died in Dhaka, now the capital of the neighbouring country.
Tirot Sing, a tribal chief known as the Hero of the Khasi Hills’, declared war against the British for their attempts to take over control of the Khasi Hills and led an attack on the colonial forces on April 8, 1829. He was captured four years later after the Anglo-Khasi War and died in the Dhaka Central Jail on July 17, 1835. The day is commemorated as U Tirot Singh Day in Meghalaya.
India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma said that the matter had been taken up with the Ministry of External Affairs and the ICCR.
“Considering that we are celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in Bangladesh, the library of IGCC located at Dhanmondi would be a befitting location to install a life-size sculpture or a bust and portrait of U Tirot Singh,” Verma said.
“The library (at IGCC) may be renamed as U Tirot Sing Memorial Library so as to spread the history and legacy of the prominent freedom fighter among the younger generation,” he said.
Verma has also urged the state government to get in touch with the IGCC in Bangladesh in this connection.
“U Tirot Sing Syiem, the Hero of the Khasi hills, was born in 1802 in the Syimileh (Chief) clan of the Nongkhlaw region of the Khasi hills. He is hailed for his warfare tactics, valour, and uncompromised control over the Khasi region against the British occupation,” according to an Indian government website.
The Anglo-Khasi War (1829-1833) was a war of guns versus swords and arrows, in which Tirot Sing countered the colonial forces with his guerilla tactics. Caves in current-day Meghalaya, where Tirot Sing used to hold secret meetings with his confidants were named after the freedom fighter. (PTI)
