Editor, I appreciated the letter by O. Lyngdoh, titled, "The Sacred Cannot Be Secularized" which appeared in the Shillong Times on April 9, 2026. The letter ended with an affirmation of the Seng Khasi and the Seiñ Raij for preserving our culture and faith, and good wishes for the Chad Sukra Festival and Shad Suk Mynsiem.

A rebuttal to this letter written by Kuparmeri Shylla, was published on April 11, 2026. While I do not claim to be an authority to the issues in this letter, one passage caught my attention. It said, "The allegation that Christians historically regarded indigenous faiths as "savage" or "barbaric," presented without credible evidence, reads less like historical analysis and more like provocation. Such language does little to illuminate the past and much to inflame present sensitivities."
Any historian will tell us that during the colonial period in northeast India, Christian missionaries and colonial administrators frequently used derogatory labels such as "heathen," "pagan," "savage," "primitive," and "superstitious" to describe the Khasi, Jaintia, and Garo communities and their indigenous religious practices. Even a casual browsing of the internet will yield these records.
These terms reflected a deeply Eurocentric view of the world and the othering of indigenous worldviews. Missionaries regarded tribal faiths as inferior to Christianity, and often described ancestor worship, nature reverence, and indigenous rituals as "superstitions" rather than respecting and regarding these religions within their cultural and philosophical contexts.
Along with the missionaries, the British bureaucracy viewed their colonial intervention for the purpose of "civilizing" the tribals. Such language devalued indigenous knowledge systems, social structures, and spiritual traditions, and contributed to cultural stigmatization.
The book, "A Garo Jungle Book: Or the Mission to the Garos of Assam" by William Carey has numerous derogatory terms and phrases. The book "Welsh Missionaries and British Imperialism: The Empire of Clouds in North-East India" by Andrew May, provides extensive examples from church records, missionary correspondence and other documents about the negative attitudes and language of the missionary endeavour. Andrew May is a professor of history at the University of Melbourne and is a descendent of Thomas Jones. His book was released in Shillong in 2012.
May's work shows that missionary writings were embedded in racialised and imperial frameworks and that indigenous beliefs were interpreted through a British colonial and religious mindset. This attitude classified indigenous religions as "animism" or "heathenism" and associated them with superstition, backwardness, and moral inferiority. These same derogatory practices were used in other colonies in Africa and Australia. (References can be provided on request.)
Yours etc.,
Glenn C Kharkongor,
Via email

Culture and Religion

Editor,
Before the coming of the Semitic religions like Christianity and Islam, culture and religion in our hills worked in perfect harmony. Culture includes indigenous religious beliefs, rituals, customs, traditions, political system and many indigenous ways of life. Today people say that religion and culture are two separate subjects. We have Khasi converts who had dumped down indigenous beliefs in favour of their new religious ideologies. We also have Khasi converts who assimilate Khasi rituals like Tang jait , Mait Tyr-ut into their liturgy and developed new innovations like the Easter dance.
They misinterpreted the verse in Matthew 5:17 "Think not that I have come to abolish the Torah (Mitzvot) or the Nevi'im (Prophets)" out of Jewish context, to fit into their liturgy. During the British period, Khasis were encouraged to denigrate their own indigenous religion. It was said that Rabon Singh Kharsuka, a Khasi convert, could not tolerate the unflattering remarks by the British on the Khasi religion. Restrictions were imposed on Khasi converts to participate in any indigenous Khasi festivals, customs, rituals, and practices. With the passage of time, religious exclusivism, that is, the belief that only a particular religion is true and other religions are false became the central theme for converting people to Christianity. Now, the Government of India, recognizes all Khasis as Scheduled Tribes. The Government also recognizes Muslims and Christians as minority communities, whereas a micro indigenous Khasi faith community are not recognized as minority. Why this glaring disparity?
Yours…
D. Diengdoh
Via email

Green Tech Foundation; A Promising Dynamic Organisation

Editor,
The United Nation has declared the decade of 2021-2030 as the decade of Eco-Restoration, which aims to stop and reverse the degradation of ecosystems but it seems that in our State, this does not tune in with the policy of development initiatives. Our approach to development is faulty. External consultants see things as problems to be fixed, provided solutions for but they have no rooted understanding nor the experiential in-depth knowledge. Their approach is mechanical. Theory converted into praxis; imposition rather than organic, top-down approach. This rat-race for economic growth drains the State and its ability to sustain for a long-term.
Development is a process, a recurring phenomenon that requires the constant engagement of stake holders as they gain expertise. The stakeholders require only capacity building rather than direct corporate interventions. True Development happens when people have a stake in decision making, let the people be the caretakers and drivers of development, because development is again, a 'process'.
In this context, we have all seen, read and heard what the Green Tech Foundation through various campaigns and grassroots based interventions have tried their best to lead the State and its citizens in the right path. But it is also distressing to see that the leaders of Green Tech Foundation comprising of a younger generation with a dedication for conservation and balance development initiatives having to take the extreme steps of undertaking a hunger-strike sacrificing their lives for the future of our State. Those at the helm of affairs and governance must hang their heads in shame when the youth have to take the responsibility to direct the State in the right direction of either politics, governance or development trajectory.
To undertake such means of protests without surrendering to the undemocratic, unconstitutional dictates of the government, Green Tech Foundation have chosen the path to unraveling and exposing the Truth. They must have access to credible information/ documents regarding the Taj project that the government, it seems, wishes to suppress.
The stand taken by GTF is not politics, it is the well directed motivation and courage to stand against the powers that have the ability and capacity to create 'illusions' of a blissful nature. The sad part is that many of our so called respected, educated elders of our society fall trap to this 'manipulative devious oracle' we now associate with the 'Eloquent Diplomacy' perpetrated through short clip social media. We must know, that the Truth does not require Language but Facts and Evidences. Language, especially Political, is polluted and requires filtering and deconstruction.
To settle the issue, it is advisable that the Government makes public all the facts and evidences of the Taj Project; beneficiaries, MOUs, stakeholders etc., so that the public who are the ultimate custodians of Democracy and 'Government' will know and take an informed decision.
My amateurish understanding is; if the Government is wise enough it must simply scrap the project and not engage in further complications. I know it's painful to do so, but at the moment, it is the best antidote, for the truth has its own autonomous way of sneaking.
Yours etc.,
Uba D Tmar
Shillong-6