Dibrugarh, Sept 7: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, Bhupen Borah, on Saturday blamed BJP government for failing to provide ST status to the six-ethnic groups of Assam.
Addressing a press conference in Dibrugarh, Bhupen Borah said, “When our government was in power in Assam, we have taken the matter seriously and started process to provide ST status to the six-ethnic communities of Assam. Now, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma blamed us that due to our mistake, they couldn’t give ST status to the six ethnic groups, which is a false statement.”
“We have met with top BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh and apprised them about the issue but nothing fruitful has come out and now they are blaming us. Actually, they do not want that the six-ethnic groups of Assam should get the ST status,” Borah said.
Senior Congress leader and Nagaon MP, Pradyut Bordoloi, also came down heavily on chief minister Sarma for delay in providing ST status to six-ethnic groups of Assam.
“Nine years ago, before parliamentary elections, PM Modi had promised that if their government will come into power then within 100 days, six-ethnic groups of Assam will be granted ST status. But now, BJP is in power both in state and centre but they could not grant ST status to the communities. Congress always wants that these communities should be tagged as Scheduled Tribe because they are the indigenous people of Assam,” Bordoloi said.
Advocating for the ST status to the six-ethnic groups, he suggested, if necessary, Assam should also be declared as a tribal state.
He also alleged that CM Himanta Sarma has been trying to brand himself as a Hindutva leader and believes in casteism, and does not want ST status to be granted to six-ethnic groups.
Notably, all the six communities meet the five criteria for ST classification, which includes evidence of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographic isolation, reluctance to contact with the general population, and backwardness, according to central government norms.
In 2019, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) had approved that these communities possess the characteristics qualifying them for inclusion in the ST list of Assam.
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