Desang Sangma (centre) after winning the bypoll

Shillong, Dec. 15: Newly-elected Garo legislator Desang M. Sangma once moved from one hideout to another, deep in the jungles of Meghalaya, to evade arrest. But now it seems like another lifetime, another era.

On Monday, when Sangma took oath of office as a legislator of the Meghalaya Assembly, life had come full circle for the former rebel.

His message to the world, especially to militants, was an impassioned plea: “Leave the gun. The ballot is more powerful than the bullet.”

Perhaps the harsh reality of jungle life and the realisation that they are chasing a utopian dream made Sangma do an about-turn and become a lawmaker.

Inspired by the romanticised ideology of the now-defunct A’chik Liberation Matgrik Army (ALMA), the young student studying for his first degree at Tura Government College decided to take up the gun. Sheer frustration over the appalling neglect and lack of development in the Garo Hills drew Sangma towards militancy.

The ALMA was a product of the 1992 split in the Hynniewtrep A’chik Liberation Council (HALC), the first militant organisation in Meghalaya.

“It was sheer frustration on my part, mixed with an urge to become a hero,” Sangma said while he was receiving visitors from his constituency, who had come to congratulate him.

Always haunted by the fear of security personnel, he and his comrades were forced to flee from one place to another every day. He recalled his dreadful life as a militant leader and the concomitant struggle for existence over four years.

He finally surrendered before the government with his 13-member team in 1994. The remaining activists of the ALMA also surrendered towards the end of the same year. The organisation, formed to fight for a separate Garo state, was disbanded.

Most of the surrendered militants were lodged in Shillong jail. However, just when the Salseng Marak government was winning kudos for bringing the entire outfit overground, the imprisoned rebels executed a stunning jailbreak.

The escapees regrouped in the Garo Hills and, along with new acolytes floated the A’chik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) later with the same goal as the ALMA.

Though life was much more comfortable when he became a businessman in Rongjeng, Sangma never forgot that he has an unfinished task, that of doing something for the Garo hills.

A strong admirer of Garo strongman Purno A. Sangma, he joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after his mentor joined hands with Sharad Pawar and broke away from the Congress.

The leadership spotted in him a man of quality and he was given the party ticket to contest the Rongjeng bypoll. Winning it was a cakewalk for him.

The NCP winner polled 7,415 votes, defeating Independent candidate and Congress rebel Sujit Sangma, who garnered 2,744 votes.

“Nothing can be achieved by violence. The democratic process is the best procedure which can be adapted for solving people’s problems,” said the former ALMA leader. Now a father of three, Sangma added that his immediate task is to see that the peace process with the ANVC is taken forward.