The Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisations of Assam on Friday opposed the state ministers’ report that recommends granting Scheduled Tribe status to six communities.
The committee said that the recommendations were “illegal and unconstitutional”, and would “destroy the political rights” of existing Scheduled Tribes in the panchayats, autonomous councils, the Assembly and Parliament.
Additionally, it will hamper quotas from the Union government’s pool, said the committee representing 14 tribes of the state.
The report cleared by the Assam Cabinet on November 26 recommends including the six communities – Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Motok, Koch-Rajbongshi and Tea Tribes (Adivasis) – in the Scheduled Tribes list.
The six communities are currently part of Assam’s Other Backward Classes list and comprise about 27% of the state’s population.
On Friday, the Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisations of Assam said that the demand of the six communities to be considered as Scheduled Tribes “is only to ensure their political reservation” in the panchayats, autonomous councils and the Assembly “as there are no seats reserved” for the Other Backward Classes in the state legislature.
“Otherwise, the rights and benefits of these six communities in terms of access to education and employment are already secured through 27% reservation as the OBCs at the state level and establishment of several autonomous and development councils for each of these communities,” the tribal groups said.
The recommendation of reserving the Kokrajhar and Diphu Lok Sabha seats “will not justify the destruction of the reservation for the existing Scheduled Tribes” at the level of the panchayats, autonomous councils, the Assembly and Parliament, the committee said.
The Group of Ministers’ proposal was to be tabled in the Assembly before being sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for consideration.
The demand to be included in the Scheduled Tribes list increased in recent months ahead of the Assembly elections. The polls are expected to take place in the next four months.
There had also been counter-protests in November by communities that are already part of the Scheduled Tribes list.
The protesters alleged that the decision to expand the Scheduled Tribes list is “politically motivated” in view of the state polls. They have also argued that adding more communities to the Scheduled Tribes list would hurt the rights of the tribes already on the list.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a bill proposing to include the six groups in Assam’s Scheduled Tribes list was introduced in the Rajya Sabha. However, it was not taken up for discussion or passed. The Group of Ministers in Assam was constituted based on the directions by the Union home ministry that year.
Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised the six communities that they would be granted the Scheduled Tribes status.
Following the delimitation exercise of 2023-’24, the number of seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the 126-member Assam Assembly increased from 16 to 19. Delimitation is the process of fixing boundaries of territorial constituencies.
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