Tati Lego | |
|---|---|
| Administrative officer, Siang Frontier Division | |
| Personal details | |
| Died | April 2013 |
| Awards |
|
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | |
| Service/ | British Indian Army |
| Rank | Subedar-Major |
| Battles/wars | Burma campaign |
Tati Lego (died April 2013) was an Adi soldier and frontier administrator from what is now Arunachal Pradesh. He fought in the Burma campaign as a Subedar-Major in the British Indian Army, earning the Burma Star and the General Service Medal.[1][2] After the war he became Political Interpreter in the Siang valley under Peter Loren Seton James, the last British Political Officer of the Abor Hills,[3] and stayed on in the North-East Frontier Agency administration after the 1948 handover.[4]
When Tagin groups killed an Indian government party at Achingmori in 1953, resisting the extension of administration into their hills, Lego led the negotiations that brought the rebels back to terms.[5][6] Adviser K. H. Mehta wrote him a certificate of appreciation for the work, and the Government of India honoured him for it as well.[4]
Lego also worked to bring the Adi together as a single political community within India.[7][8] He met the Naga nationalist, Angami Zapu Phizo and respected what Phizo was trying to do for his people, but urged him to settle with New Delhi rather than fight it. Lego himself never joined any movement against the Indian state, holding that the hill peoples could not stand alone and were better off inside the Union with their own autonomy.[9][10]
He oversaw construction of the Mebo–Dhola Road, received a certificate of appreciation from Governor Saiyid Fazl Ali in 1959, and retired in 1983.[4][11]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Burma Campaign Personnel Rolls (Junior Commissioned Officers) (Archival record). War Office / India Office Records.
- ↑ অসমীয়া যোদ্ধা আৰু ব্ৰহ্মদেশ অভিযান [Assamese warriors and the Burma campaign]. Awahon আৱাহন (in অসমীয়া): 40–45. 1945–46.
- ↑ P. L. S. James (1948). Tour Diary of Mr PLS James, I. P. Assistant Political Officer Siang Valley Sub Agency, From August 1945-1946 (Report). Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh State Archives, NEFA Secretariat. File No. 2043/GA/95/48.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "PI Tati Lego passes away". The Arunachal Times. 25 April 2013.
- ↑ Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs (1955). North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) Annual Report, 1954–55 (Report). New Delhi: Government of India.
- ↑ সীমান্ত অঞ্চলত প্ৰশাসনৰ বিস্তাৰ [Expansion of administration in the border region]. Dainik Asam দৈনিক অসম (in অসমীয়া). 12 March 1953. p. 3.
- ↑ Tayeng, D. C. (1964). Abor Paharor Itihas aru Sanskriti [History and Culture of the Abor Hills] (in অসমীয়া). Dibrugarh: Tribal Research Institute (Assam).
- ↑ Tayeng, A. J. (1978). Pasighat aru Siangor Itihas [History of Pasighat and Siang] (in অসমীয়া). Itanagar: Directorate of Education.
- ↑ Naga National Council (c. 1951). Circular No. 7: Meeting with Frontier Representatives in Assam–Naga Hills Border Areas (Duplicated mimeograph). Kohima: NNC Secretariat.
- ↑ Naga National Council (1952). Resolutions Adopted at Kohima Session (1952) (Report). Kohima: NNC Press.
- ↑ Award of Certificate of Appreciation to JCO personnel serving in frontier administration. Assam Gazette (Report). Government of Assam. 1959. Part IX, p. 14.