Pa Raja Paresh Chandra Mree Father of Garos Nation was born in a Chunia village in 1929. His mother's name was Chenga Mree and his father's name was Raichan Nokrek. On that time there was no scope for primary schooling in their village but his father was very intelligent and far-sigted man due to his strong desire he went to Bhutia village, more than a mile away in the deep forest and enrolled his two son's in a school run by baptiste missionary. latter he transfer into a government school. On that time Scholarship examination was compulsory in 4th class in the Government school. the test center was in Golapur west of Madhupur about 16 miles away. At that time there was no way but to walk. They had to walk 16 miles to attend the test. And Raja Paresh Chandra Mree took second place in a competitive exam.
He was very fond of studying from a young age. So that's why his father later admitted him to Madhupur High School. At that time hostel could not be thought of. But he got the opportunity to study from lodging in Bankim Chakraborty house .
When Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in the country in 1945-1947, Bankimbabu's family, like other Hindu families, moved to kolkata in search of safe haven. Bankimbabu loved him so much that he took him to kolkata with his family. There he was admitted to Narikel Danga High School.There his father used to send money through people every month. Paresh Chandra Mree got the mantra of protecting the society from Bankim Babu. Bankimbabu was an intelligent politician.He used to let Paresh Chandra Mree to read Hindu scriptures such as Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita and Vedanta philosophy and explain it by himself. Bankim Babu was also gave him to read various books on communism and atheism, and discussed with him about social changes . Thus at this age he read the books of Mao Zedong, Massim Gorky, Angels and Lelin and gradually became a believer in their principles and ideals.
During his stay at Babu's house, Paresh Chanda Mree was witnessed to the political movements of the Congress and the Muslim League and he listened all the discussions of many great monarchs and also about social changes. From then, he thought about the plight of his own society and dreamed of changes. It is there when the consciousness of his social change and the indomitable desire and mental strength to work for a backward society is awakened
It is undeniable that Bankim Chakraborty has contributed a lot to every great work of Raja Paresh Chabdra Mree later life. And for still those people of Madhupur, are grateful to him. The kolkata weather was not conducive for his health and he was always ill all the time so his father was forced to bring him back.
After coming back home he recovered from his illness And once again, father and son are desperate for higher education. Later, he got the opportunity to gave metric Board exam test from Kolkata church of Bangladesh Mission School. But he lost again in the cruel game of fate. when it was time to leave Kolkata, the disease of tuberculosis, which had been dug for a long time, manifested itself.
The dream of father and son institutional education, came to an end. But there is no end of education, he did not stop buying and reading books . He read a lot of books and encouraged others to read and read books.
Not only did he fight for the rights of the aborigines but he was also known as a doctor. People's including children's started dying for various diseases. Sawing this miserable condition ,Raja Paresh Chandra Mree bought homeopathy and Allopathy medicine book's and started studying and continued to give free treatment to the locals. At that time, the fame of his medical work spread in the area that at one time Paresh Chandra was widely known in the Madhupur area as Paresh Doctor.
He was Sansarek before , but finally in 1952, inspired by his relatives and the people around him, He left Sansarek religion and accepted Jesus as Savior and became a Christian.
It is known that Pa Raja Paresh Chandra started protesting against the publication of Jhum in 1952, when the government of Pakistan abolished the zamindari system and stopped cultivating Jhum, and on that time Jhum was the only source of income for those people. Then in 1958, the government suddenly sold the tribal land to the rich at auction and for this Indigenous people were becomes very angry and protest against all these issues.
In the same year, indigenous people suffered a major blow. From 1912 to 1919, the recorded CSC lands of them were declared as khas lands and brought under the purview of the forest department. As a result, the normal life of these people was disrupted and they were harassed in various ways. Other indigenous leaders, including Mree resolve current issues in consultation with government officials.
After the timely solution, they were badly hit again. In 1971, the government announced the construction of an eco park with 12-15 tribal villages covering an area of about 40 square miles, verbally. Then all the tribal leaders come along and protested to save their homeland.
On his initiative, he formed an organization in 1982 to assert the rights of the adivasis and to strengthen the struggle movement. After remaining silent for some time, the government again issued eviction notices in 1978 and 1980 and promised compensation.
In many ways the government tempted King Paresh Chandra Mree, but he did not respond any of it. He only respond when it comes to defending indigenous peoples when it come to defending his motherland. He never hesitated to protest against injustice.
In the year of 1998 7th of march He breathed his last breath due to incurable diseases. His great work and sacrifice inspires our indigenous youth. He is an inspiring Idol for our indigenous society.
With due respect Indigenous People's still remembering his historical words And reminds us of our existence. “We are the children of the forest we are born here we brought up here we want to die here. we are so accustomed to this forest life that we will not leave this forest and village because we cannot live without our forest”- Raja Paresh chandra Mree.
Written by Athina Chakma
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