Shillong ( Meghalaya), July 17 :North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) today observed 188the death Anniversary of U Tirot Sing Syiem at its campus in here which was attended by the teachers, scholars, students and non-teaching staff of the university.
The observance was chaired Prof. Prabha Shankar Shukla, the Vice-Chancellor of NEHU while Prof. Amena M Passah from Department of History, NEHU presented a talk on “ The freedom struggle of U Tirot Sing Syiem”.
Prof. Passah in her talk mentioned that “One of the lapses of colonial Indian historiography is the utter neglect of the North-Easr India’s rich preserved of valiant women and men who resisted British imperialism in their region and whose names and exploits do not feature in the history books”. She also applauded the Government of India in putting efforts and spotlight on lesser-known heroes of India under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav programme. While speaking about the life and struggle of U Tirot Sing.
Prof Passah mentioned that the state of Meghalaya is indebted to Prof. David Syiemlieh, who in course of research, found out that Tirot Sing died on 17 th of July under house arrest and not as an ordinary prisoner in a jail as initially believed.
While answering to the queries of the participants, Prof. Passah mentioned that a lot of research has to be conducted to learn more about the lives of the freedom fighters of the state as the records in the history books do not do justice to the works of these unsung heroes.
She urged the scholars and students of history to explore the possibilities of conducting research about the life of U Tirot Sing in Dacca while he was under house arrest.
Prof. P. S. Shukla, the Vice-Chancellor of NEHU while presenting the chairman’s remark applauded Prof. Amena M Passah for enlightening the participants about the life and struggles of U Tirot Sing Syiem. He exhorted on the fact that it’s high time now that the young generation knew about our unsung heroes. “It is also necessary to conduct more rearch work on these freedom fighters about whom is not much covered in the history books”, he said. Prof. Shukla also highlighted the fact that NEHU is now in a phase where the lives of unsung heroes and heroines of the state are celebrated and involving students in celebrating their lives is important.
He urged the students body i.e. NEHUSU to take lead role in organizing programmes and creating awareness about the freedom fighters of the society and the University will be providing full support in organizing such events. He urged the students of history, archaeology and anthropology to conduct more research on the freedom fighters of the state and come with the answers to questions raised during the talk session presented by Prof. Passah.
