The march of Hindu nationalists in Meghalaya picked up pace after 1985. The RSS began working with the Garos, Jaintias, and Khasis, as well as the Hajong and Koch communities, which are tribes from the plains. Seva Bharati organises medical camps and provides educational aid. Today, Sangh outfits run medical camps in more than a thousand villages in Meghalaya.

They also operate more than fifty schools in each of the eleven districts in the state. Just in Shillong, there are fourteen RSS organisations operating, including Seva Bharati, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Samiti, ABVP, Sanskar Bharati, Seemanta Chetna Manch, VHP, and Purva Sainik Parishad.

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The RSS has its own activities and runs community programmes in the Jaintia, Khasi, and Garo Hills. In Shillong’s Laitumkhrah, the local church head recently hoisted the saffron flag at an RSS function. Local swayamsevaks say that while the church leaders may not agree with the Sangh’s ideology, they have a healthy respect for its social work.

Additionally, they appreciate the importance the RSS gives them. ‘Every local Christian leader loves being the chief guest. That is how we get them to our functions and open lines of communication,’ says Pratham.

One of the Sangh’s biggest challenges in Meghalaya is that the indigenous people lack many nationalistic icons to celebrate. This may be due to their reliance on oral traditions to pass down stories of valour and patriotism.

The absence of literature and documentation makes it easier for imperialists and evangelists to erase stories of indigenous pride and identity. However, three individuals stand out. The first is U. Kiang Nangbah, a Khasi freedom fighter who waged a guerrilla war against the British and led an uprising.

He spearheaded the local resistance in the Jaintia Hills against the imposition of British taxes and the establishment of a police station in the area. The tipping point came in Yalong when the British police confiscated weapons intended for a traditional dance called Pastieh Kaiksoo and burned them in a bonfire as the locals watched helplessly.

Nangbah and his people retaliated by building barricades, stocking grains, and launching an armed attack that destroyed the police station, burned down Christian settlements, and seized a military post. He was arrested after one of his men betrayed him.

The British publicly hanged him in Jowai town of West Jaintia Hills on 30 December 1862. A government college in Jowai was named after him in 1967.

A postage stamp was issued in his memory in 2001 during the Vajpayee years. But, to this day, Nangbah has yet to receive a prominent mention in any of the nation’s textbooks. Then there was U. Tirot Sing Syiem, a Khasi chief who declared war against the British as they attempted to take over the Khasi Hills.

He fought with traditional weapons like swords, shields, bows, and arrows, which were no match for the modern British weaponry and firepower. Despite his disadvantage, Tirot’s men held out for four long years, engaging in guerrilla warfare, ambushing, and frustrating the imperial forces.

He was shot and captured after one of his generals betrayed his location in exchange for gold. Tirot died in Dhaka on 17 July 1835 at the age of thirty-three. Another local tale of daring is that of Pa Togan Sangma, the first Garo freedom fighter and a daredevil ‘a-chik mande’ (hill people) warrior.

In 1872, he led a nighttime attack on a British contingent that had come to conquer the East Garo Hills while the British troops were sleeping. After the initial shock, the troops retaliated with modern firepower, completely overwhelming the tribe’s traditional weapons.

Sangma’s innovation of using large shields made of plantain stems proved ineffective against bullets, and he was killed on the spot The Sangh has its own pantheon of martyrs in Meghalaya. One of them is the iconic local leader, Rijoy Sing Khongshah, hailing from Umniuh Tmar village in the picturesque Pynursla area of Meghalaya’s East Khasi Hills.

Rijoy was an RSS member and president of the local Seng Khasi Ri-War Mihngi unit. Seng Khasi is a cultural organisation dedicated to preserving and reviving the religion and traditions of the Niam Tre.

It originated as a resistance movement against British colonial rule in the Khasi and Jaintia hills and the widespread religious conversions carried out by Christian missionaries among the Khasi-Pnars.

Rijoy soon became a local hero. As his popularity continued to rise, he began receiving death threats from local militant organisations. However, he paid no heed to them. On 1 March 2001, while on his way to a meeting, he was kidnapped and never returned.

Despite extensive protest rallies and a CBI inquiry, his body was never found. Rijoy Sing Khongshah is the inspiration behind Pawnamshisha Khongsai’s turn to nationalism and the initiation of social work. The wiry twenty-nine-year-old serves as the RSS secretary of Khasi Hill in the Ri-Bhoi district.

Khongsai joined the movement following Rijoy Sing’s kidnapping and, in all likelihood, murder. ‘Thanks to Rijoy, nearly every village in the Khasi Hills now has an RSS activist,’ says Pawnam, whose father was closely associated with the locally renowned activist.

‘I first met him when I was in Class III. I witnessed his tireless efforts, travelling from village to village, working for the indigenous people.’ He criticises the ‘heavily pro-Christian media’ in the state, alleging that it conceals regular atrocities committed by Christians against the indigenous people while sensationalising isolated incidents where Christians are the victims.

Pawnam resides in his wife’s home, which is 20 km from Pynursla. He mentions that it was only after Narendra Modi became the prime minister that his village received infrastructure such as roads, electricity, toilets, and cooking gas cylinders.

‘People never imagined they would have all these amenities in just five years. My village, Tynriang, is just one kilometre from the Bangladesh border, yet we now have access to all these facilities. Even the border fencing began after Modi took office,’ he explains.

He adds that indigenous youths admire Modi. Even many Christian youngsters began praising the prime minister after the Balakot air raids in response to the Pulwama terror attack. Interestingly, the local BJP block secretary is a young Christian man.

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