‘Migratory communities cannot get ST status in Assam’: BJSM

Our Correspondent

KOKRAJHAR: The Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) on Tuesday reiterated that the migratory communities from other States like Rajbongshis and Adivasis could not be Scheduled Tribes in Assam and the Government of Assam should recommend only the indigenous communities of the State.

In a statement, the president of BJSM, Janaklal Basuamtary said the Koch Rajbongshis could not be given ST status as there was no community as Koch Rajbongshi. “It is well established that Koch and Rajbongshi are separate caste. The government cannot grant ST status for constitutional benefit to a non-existent community like Koch Rajbongshi,” he said.

“Likewise, no ST can be granted to 36 unknown communities of the tea tribe community which is a group of individuals, not a group of communities. In Article 342 (1) (2) of the Constitution, it is group of communities, not group of individuals which is granted ST status. So from the tea tribe communities no other community can be derived. Therefore, no community, as mentioned in the bill, is existent in the tea tribes of Assam. These are all communities of other States of India. No ST status can be granted to any community of another State,” he said, adding that the tea tribes were not Adivasis in Assam as claimed by Santius Kujur, Rajya Sabha MP, and Sanjay Kr. Tanti, a writer.

The individual tea tribe people were not forcefully brought by British to work in the tea gardens, as stated by Kujur, but they come voluntarily to work in the tea gardens for agreed wage earned on contractual basis. This means that the tea tribes community migrated voluntarily to earn wages.

Basumatary said that not just the 36 communities proposed in the Bill but the whole tea tribe people were not entitled to get ST status in Assam as they did not belong to the communities of Assam but to other States of India. “The Assam Government can recommend only a community of its own State. Thus, the tea tribe community cannot be granted ST status in Assam,” he said.

Also Read: Assam News