Sayeedullah Nongrum is an Indian politician and philanthropist. He was a three-time MLA for Rajabala constituency at the

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Meghalaya. Constituted as a directly elected body in 1972, it has 60 members, filled through direct elections held e ...

Early life and education

Khan was born on 25 November 1945 to a

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...

Khasi family in

Meghalaya Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...

. His father was S.K. Abdullah. He began his studies in

Shillong Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...

, completing his

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from the city's Islamia High School in 1960. He graduated from

Gauhati University Gauhati University also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly and is the oldest un ...

in 1964, and completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

in 1969.

Career

Nongrum began his career as a time scale clerk in the Department of Telecommunications Department in 1967. He later served as Public Relations Officer before retiring in 1992. He was the president of the Shillong Muslim Panchayat. Nongrum was also the secretary of Islamia High School's managing committee from 1983 to 1985 and elected secretary of the Meghalaya

Waqf A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...

Board. He was the inaugural vice-president of Unishyrpi College's governing body. In 1990, he was the founding president of Qazi and Zaman College in Bhaitbari and ten years later, the Jinjiram College in Rajabala. Despite being an independent candidate, he defeated

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

candidate Biren Hajong at the 1993 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election for Rajabala constituency. However, he was defeated by

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

candidate Kapin Ch. Boro at the 1998 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election. Nongrum made a comeback at the 2003 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election, defeating Clement Marak of the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...

. He managed to preserve his seat at Rajabala during the

2008 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election of 2008 took place in a single phase on 3 March 2008 to elect the Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from each of the 60 Constituency, Assembly Cons ...

, but was defeated in the 2013 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election. At the

2018 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election was held on 27 February 2018 to elect 59 of 60 members to the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, with the results declared on 3 March. The scheduled election in Williamnagar Assembly constituency, Willia ...

, Nongrum contested for the Tikrikilla constituency but was unsuccessful. A by-election was held in April 2019 for the Selsella constituency and Nongrum contested as a United Democratic Party candidate but did not win the election. Nongrum is also a co-ordinator of the Assam-Meghalaya Boundary Settlement Committee, and chairman of the Meghalaya Industrial Development Corporation and the Meghalaya Land Revenue Review Committee. As the General Secretary of the Shillong Muslim Union since 1982, he played an important role in the establishment of Madina Mosque, Shillong, India's first

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

mosque.

Personal life

Nongrum is married to Florabell Dkhar, and they have two sons and two daughters. He is also a polyglot; fluent in Khasi, English,

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, Nepali and Assamese.

References

{{Meghalaya-INC-politician-stub Indian National Congress politicians from Meghalaya Meghalaya politicians Meghalaya MLAs 1993–1998 1945 births People from West Garo Hills district 20th-century Indian Muslims Indian Sunni Muslims Khasi people Gauhati University alumni Living people People from Shillong