SHILLONG, MAY 12: The banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) has accused the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) president Ardent Basaiawmoit of “rank hypocrisy” over Khasi tradition, alleging that he preaches matriliny in public while practising patriarchy in private.
In a statement issued by the HNLC general secretary Sainkupar Nongtraw said leaders who invoke scripture and tradition for political gain are eroding indigenous identity from within.
“Today in Meghalaya, some politicians proudly quote King David and King Solomon, foreign kings from a distant land thousands of years ago, but they cannot respect our own syiems and traditional institutions,” the statement said.
“A people who stop respecting their own kings, customs, and ancestral institutions slowly lose their identity and dignity. Respecting our traditional institutions does not make us less Christian. It makes us a people who still remember who we are,” it added.
The HNLC alleged that Basaiawmoit attacked the outfit for defending concerns over the sanad of Syiem Sohra, while asserting his own knowledge of Khasi custom.
“At a public meeting, Ardent Basaiawmoit, President of VPP, publicly attacked HNLC for defending the legitimate concern over the sanad of Syiem Sohra. He boldly declared, ‘I am a Khasi, I know well the riti-dustur and identity,’” the statement said.
“But we put this directly to the people, is this a man who lives by matriliny, or one who merely wins votes by it? Your own children carry your patrilineal title. That is not a rumour. That is a fact,” Nongtraw said.
The HNLC argued that such conduct undermines the VPP’s cultural claims. “The VPP manifesto boldly claims to protect Khasi identity, tradition, and indigenous values. But if the President of VPP privately practises patriarchy while publicly preaching matriliny, then VPP is not a cultural party. It is a cultural performance,” the statement said.
On the Syiem Sohra issue, the outfit alleged that the delay in granting the sanad was politically motivated. “When ‘ki khun ki hajar ka Hima Sohra’ and the HNLC stood in support of Syiem Maremdor as the rightful successor, the KHADC ignored the voice of the Hima because political interest became more important than the will of the people,” it said.
“Today many people believe the real objective is political control over Hima Sohra, its authority, and its revenue while pretending to act in the name of protecting tradition,” the statement added.
The HNLC also criticised what it called a broader colonial mindset. “The colonial mindset does not destroy openly. It reshapes slowly, until people begin to forget who they are,” Nongtraw said.
“They laughed at our clothes and made us wear theirs. They laughed at our names and made us change them. They laughed at our language and made us learn theirs… They laughed at our matrilineal system, the very foundation of Hynniewtrep dignity, and made us trade it for their patriarchal order,” the statement said.
Calling the VPP chief a “political demagogue,” the HNLC said leadership must rest on “consistency, principle, and moral courage, not just speeches and slogans.”
“In opposition they sounded like revolutionaries in the streets. In power they behave like bureaucrats protecting authority while the people themselves are forced to protest against them. Revolutionary words in opposition and arrogance in power. That is the true face of political hypocrisy,” it said.
The HNLC demanded a direct answer from the VPP. “We demand VPP answer directly and publicly, does your party stand by matriliny in practice, or only in election speeches?”
“Culture is not a campaign tool. And leadership that cannot live its own values has absolutely no authority to question those who do,” Nongtraw said.
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