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 Indian state of Meghalaya. Constituted as a directly elected body in 1972, it has 60 members, filled through direct elections held every five years. Like other Indian stat ...

Early life and education

Khan was born on 25 November 1945 to a Sunni Muslim Khasi family in

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...

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

Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the 330th most populous city in India with a ...

, completing his

matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term "matriculation" is seldom used now ...

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

Gauhati University Gauhati University, also known as GU, is a Collegiate university, 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 Assem ...

in 1964, and completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) 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. Th ...

degree in

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Waqf A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...

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 Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

candidate Biren Hajong at the

1993 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election The 1993 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election was held on 19 February 1993. Following the election a coalition government called the Meghalaya United Front was formed between the Indian National Congress and a split from the Hill State People ...

for Rajabala constituency. However, he was defeated by

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

candidate Kapin Ch. Boro at the

1998 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election The 1998 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election was held on 16 February 1998. Results The UDP was formed in 1997 through a merger of the Hill People's Union (HPU), some members of the Hill State People's Democratic Party (HDP) and the Pub ...

. Nongrum made a comeback at the

2003 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election The 2003 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election was held on 26 February 2003. The north-east Indian state's seventh Legislative Assembly election saw major changes with 28 sitting members and two former Chief Ministers losing their seats. The ...

, defeating Clement Marak of the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

. 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 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from each of the 60 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in Meghalaya, India. Counting of votes ha ...

, but was defeated in the

2013 Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly election of 2013 was held on 23 February 2013 to elect the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from each of the 60 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in the state of Meghalaya in India. Background The 8th ...

. 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 constituency was delayed to a ...

, 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 The Madina Mosque ( ar, مسجد المدينة شيلونغ) is a four-storeyed mosque in Shillong, India. It took one and a half years to complete and is the only glass mosque in India. It serves Meghalaya's largest Muslim community, the Sunni M ...

, India's first

glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...

mosque.

Personal life

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

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

, Nepali and Assamese.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nongrum, Sayeedullah Indian National Congress politicians from Meghalaya 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