Assam: BJSM Accuses Governments of Vote Bank Politics Over ST Status for Six Communities

KOKRAJHAR: Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Manch (BJSM) has alleged that the successive governments have been playing a vote bank politics over the issue of ST status to six communities of Assam whose pleas have already been rejected repeatedly by the Registrar General of India for not fulfilling the criteria for being ST.

President of BJSM Janaklal Basumatary in a statement said all the six communities Rajbongshi, Adivasi, Moran, Motok, Ahom and Chutiya who are demanding ST status in Assam are already enjoying the constitutional benefit of OBC reservations. He said the RGI happened to examine their petition on several occasions, but all of them were found not fulfilling the prescribed criteria for granting ST status to these six communities in Assam. As per prevailing modalities, the RGI finds the community is not fulfilling the criteria of ST status. The government can reject their petition but the successive government of India did not act in accordance with the prescribed modalities. Rather they keep their promise to grant ST status even after knowing that they cannot grant ST status to them due to non-fulfilment of the constitutional provisions under Art. 342 (1)(2) of the Indian Constitution just for winning votes in elections. Besides, having no criteria for granting ST status there is no justification to recommend the huge half of the total population in Assam for granting ST status to these six communities. The government of India asked the state government of Assam to justify the recommendation of such a large number of different communities for granting ST status without harming the interest of existing ST communities who are already enjoying the constitutional benefits of OBC reservations, he said adding that the state government cannot justify it and so, a hurriedly prepared ST amendment bill, 2019 which could not be passed in the lower house of Parliament. The large number itself does not justify recommending them. The tea workers community is the second largest single community in Assam next to Muslim who are the single largest community in Assam. Koch Rajbongshi is the 3rd single largest community and Ahom, Chutiya, Moran, Matak combined are 4th largest community in Assam.

Basumatary said the 36 communities selected from 103 tea tribes’ communities were found not belonging to the communities of Assam, but they are communities of other states of India, migrated to Assam for contractual work in tea gardens of Assam as admitted in their own ethnographic report. The state government cannot recommend the community of outside state under Art.342 (1)(2) of the Constitution of India. No ST certificate can be granted to the migrated community in the migrated state, although they are ST in their state of origin as a community of the same nomenclature. Therefore, no ST can be granted to 36 various tea tribe communities who are not communities of Assam. Moreover, they do not require for protection of political rights as they have an adequate number of MLAs, MPs and ministers in state and central, more than other general communities of Assam. They also do not entitle for land right reservation as their regular profession for livelihood and material advancement is other than use of land, that is regular wage earning from tea industry, he added.

“Koch Rajbongshi is also a non-existent community as Koch and Rajbongshi are separate communities, separately notified as Scheduled Caste in West Bengal. There is no community of Koch Rajbongshi in West Bengal. These two communities are extended to Assam also with the separate identity. So, there is no ethnically Koch Rajbongshi community in Assam. The state government cannot recommend ST to the non-existent community. Rajbongshis identify themself as Khatriya Rajbongshis in West Bengal as well as in Assam. The Koch Rajbongshi reflects more as Khatriya Rajbongshi with wearing of holy thread and there are more Hindu than tribes as observed by the RGI in report, hence not accepting the proposal of State government for granting ST status to them. They are qualified for SC in West Bengal with Rajbongshi nomenclature,” he said adding, “The same community cannot be ST in Assam with identical characteristics.” Moreover, they enjoy a greater number of OBC reservations: 27 PC against 10 PC ST reservation in Assam. They have other professions for earning livelihood and material advancement. They are more advanced than the existing STs in business and other technical jobs. It is unfair to equate them with existing STs of Assam. 

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