Tribal bodies against grant of ST status to 6 communities

Guwahati, Aug 22 (PTI) Opposing the Centre’s move to grantScheduled Tribe status to six communities in Assam, 16 tribalorganisations today announced to launch a series of agitationprogrammes including bandh and blocking of national highways. The Coordination Committe of the Tribal Organisations ofAssam (CCTOA) held a national convention here, where theorganisations vowed to undertake different forms of protestsincluding giving call for an indefinite Assam bandh andblocking the National Highways and railway routes. "If the proposed reservation is given to the sixcommunities, which do not fulfill the criteria at all, thenthe existing 14 ST tribes will move further backward," CCTOACoordinator Pramod Boro said at the convention. He informed that the organisation has been requesting boththe Centre and the state to hold a bipartite meeting with theexisting tribal communities, but nothing has happened. "In 2014, we also supported (Narendra) Modi for ‘achchedin’ (good days). Yes, achche din is coming for the sixcommunities, but it will be ‘bure din’ (bad days) for the14 communities," he added. Boro, who is also the President of All Bodo Students’Union, said Moran, Muttock, Tai-Ahom, Koch-Rajbongshi, Sooteaand Tea-Tribes comprise 56 per cent of Assam’s totalpopulation as per 2011 census. "These communities have been following the Hindu castesystem and have been rightly listed in ‘Other Backward Caste’or ‘More Other Backward Caste Status’. They do not possesscharacteristics of tribals," he added. A joint resolution by all the 16 groups representing the14 ST tribes said if the six communities are included in thelist along with them, then the political representation of theexisting genuine Scheduled Tribes will be destroyed once andfor all. "The National Convention unanimously decided to oppose any’detrimental’ political move of the government to include sixadvanced and populous communities in to the ST (Plains) listof Assam," the resolution stated. The groups resolved to take legal recourse and file writsbefore the Supreme Court if the Centre and State governmentsgo ahead with granting ST status to the communities. "The National Convention also decided to organiseawareness drive and launch vigorous democratic mass movement,including National Highway blockade, rail blockade andindefinite Assam bandh if the six communities are granted STstatus," the resolution stated. PTI TR SUSSMJ