GUWAHATI, Feb 24 — The Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisations, Assam (CCTOA), a united platform of some 25 tribal organisations in the State, has decided to launch an agitation against the reported move of the Centre to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the 70-lakh strong Koch-Rajbongshi community in the State.
Terming the Centre’s move as ‘politically motivated’, CCTOA co-ordinator Milon Sonowal told presspersons here today that the CCTOA will organsie a sit-in demonstration in New Delhi on March 13 to oppose the Centre’s move. The CCTOA has also threatened to call a state-wide bandh on March 21 unless the proposed move is scrapped.
Sonowal said that there is a need for an open discussion on the matter and the need to evolve a consensus among all tribal groups. Unfortunately, he said, the Centre is taking unilateral decisions ignoring the pleas of the tribal people. Sonowal said that the 29 lakh tribals in Assam will be losers if the government was to go ahead with the scheduling of the Koch-Rajbongshis. He felt that the Koch-Rajbongshis will corner all the benefits and concessions meant for the tribals in the State as they were ‘more advanced’.
That everything hinged on the issue of reservations was very much evident when Sonowal said that the CCTOA will not oppose the scheduling of the Koch-Rajbongshis provided it is guaranteed that they will not encroach on the 10 per cent reservation quota for tribals in Assam. It is okay if separate reservation is made for the Koch-Rajbongshis, he said.
“The government wants the tribal people to fight amongst themselves,” Sonowal stated, adding that the scheduling move is politically motivated. The Centre is trying to please the Koch-Rajbongshis with an eye on the next elections, he alleged.
Sonowal said that Scheduling of the Koch-Rajbongshis will mean that the indigenous tribals of the State, like the Bodos, Misings, Tiwas, Rabhas, Kocharis, Deuris, Karbis, Dimasas, Garos, etc., will be deprived of their Constitutional rights. He recalled that in 1992, the Assam Institute for Research for SC and ST had pointed out that the Koch-Rajbongshis do not fulfil the five criteria to be eligible to be designated as ST. According to Sonowal, the five criteria are — primitive stage of development, distinctive culture, shyness in contact with other communities at large, geographical isolation and general backwardness. The 1992 report, however, admitted that the Koch-Rajbongshis in lower Assam were backward. It did not recommend scheduling of the Koch-Rajbongshis, he said.
The CCTOA co-ordinator, who is also the co-ordinator of the Tribal Students’ Federation, Assam (TSF), alleged that in 1994, the same institute said that though the Koch-Rajbongshis do not fulfil the conditions of being considered as ST, it may be ‘considered’. He said it was done at the behest of the then ruling party.
Sonowal said that the stand of the CCTOA has the backing of all the tribal groups in the State. A rally is planned in Guwahati on April 3 on the issue, he said.
Meanwhile, a CCTOA delegation is leaving for New Delhi on February 28 to meet and apprise Central leaders of their stand.