Meghalaya Assembly Elections 2018: In this village on the Indo-Bangladesh border, voting rights still elude some

Forty years after Meghalaya became a state, in a quiet corner on the Indo-Bangladesh border, a community of over 120 people have been waging a monumental battle -- of being given basic voting rights.

In Pyrdiwah village, which falls under the Pynursla block of East Khasi Hills district, people of the adivasi community have been waging this war for decades now. Most of the adivasis from the tea tribe community that reside here crossed over to India from Bangladesh. And yet here, in a country that they call home, the community is denied voting rights.

A sign listing the rules, signed by the village 'dorbar' - Amrita Madhukalya/DNA Photo

The unmissable fault-line lies between the local Khasi-Garo and the tea tribe-Bengali population. Ajit Rai, one of the community’s brightest men, says that when they approach the state authorities for an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), they are asked for birth certificates. In a village where births are conducted at home, even today, certificates were in short supply when he was growing up. He has made sure that his children have birth certificates today. The idea that the local Khasi population is not allowing for the IDs to be made runs deep.

Headman Gary Francis Lamin says that he has done what is needed: provide a proof of residence. Rai and others agree that before Francis, other headmen did not help enough.

Headman Gary Francis Lamlin says he has done what is needed: provide a proof of residence​ - Amrita Madhukalya/DNA Photo

While Rai managed to get a voter ID for himself, over 120 people of the community have not been that lucky. Rai and other members took the matter to the Meghalaya High Court in 2015, which ruled in 2016 that birth certificates of people between the age group of 60 to 80 years should be allowed to apply for birth certificates as per the law.

One of the lawyers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that after the court’s ruling while those below 20 years of age do not have a problem applying for a birth certificate as the Public Health Department (PHE) officers do not deny certificates today, those that will be affected are people in the age group of 30 to 60 years of age.

“While in other states, a residence of proof of over six months is the main requisite, here the need for a birth certificate complicates matters,” said the lawyer, adding that this is not an issue of nationality.

Of the 500 people that reside in the village, over 200 are from the adivasi community and are Hindus, while the remaining 300-odd people are Christians from the Khasi community. Gary informs that about the village has 159 registered voters, and this year of the 20 first-time voters allowed voter IDs, only two are of the tea tribe community. 

A picture of Sumer's father's voter ID, which was withdrawn later - Amrita Madhukalya/DNA Photo

Dibor Sumer of the adivasi community says that in the past his father even voted twice, before it was withdrawn. “We grew up on ration food, and after a while the food stopped and the voter IDs were withdrawn,” he says.

Pyrdiwah is a village where the idea of nationhood is a fluid one, and all it takes to cross over to our neighbouring country, or to welcome anyone from there is a simple saunter. On the night of April 15, 2001, however, a few things changed forever. Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) soldiers entered into Indian territory and camped here for four days, leading to thousands of people in the area to flee. The left four days later. In the aftermath, in those days when social media was a non-entity, a picture of a BSF man being brutalised by the then BDR, now known as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), went all manners viral.

Rai remembers that when the villagers moved back, they had nothing. “Houses were broken, rices and food items were looted, and our cattle were taken away. Some of the poorest of the community even lost their papers,” he says.

Today, BSF outposts stand tall, while a few metres away, across the river in Bangladesh, sand mining continues unabated, with several mining machines working furiously. A small pole with a white flag is what marks the international boundary.

Simol Khonglah, a Khasi woman who says she was 12 when the Indo-Pakistan War took place, says that as per her grandmother’s accounts Pyrdiwah was a village situated in between the Pyan and Yah Shyniar rivers. The local population came to Pyrdiwah, which was a jungle then, to grow areca nuts and rice. She says that even today people from Bangladesh come over to work in the village.

After the 2001 incident, the entry of people in the village remain restricted. Today, as one enters Pyrdiwah village, after climbing down a few steps that leads from a run-down road, a board greets visitors. Signed by the village “dorbar” or community, the sign lists out the things that visitors and villagers must maintain once they are in the village. One of the rules is that visitors from outside the village are not welcome after 9pm, and those found will be punished.

Sumer and Rai say they plan to approach the High Court again with a modified plea, asking the court of the fate of those in the age group of 30 to 60 years who do not have voter ID or birth certificates.

“Year after year, the applications come back, untouched. Are we not Indian enough,” they ask.