BJP’s ‘Vikash’ Mantra Yet To Reach The Adivasis Of Assam: AASAA

HT Correspondent
MARGHERITA, Aug 4: The BJP-led NDA government’s development mantra – “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikash, Sabka Biswas” is yet to reach the Adivasi communities of Assam. In spite of transforming the Adivasis of the state, the BJP government has simply carried forward the Congress’s regime’s legacy of deprivation and ‘double-dealing.’ This was stated by All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA), Margherita regional committee president Garnel Minze. He said this while addressing the agitating association members on Tuesday.
Notably, on Tuesday, the students’ body of the Adivasi community carried out a protest rally from the Tinsukia district’s Margherita Rangamacha to the sub-divisional office (civil) premises demanding to resolve various socio-economic and political issues faced by the community. More than five hundred members of the AASAA’s central committee, Tinsukia district committee and regional committee members of Margherita, Digboi, Pengree, Bordumsa and Phillobari particip[ated in the protest rally.
Addressing the protesters, AASAA Tinsukia district committee president Garnel Minze, general secretary Ramanus Lakra and Margherita regional committee general secretary Samuel Topno unanimously said, “The Adivasis of Assam have enormous economic contributions to the State’s exchequer which can neither be denied nor ignored. Nevertheless, both the Centre as well as the state government has been turning a blind eye to the Adivasis. Development in reality is still a distant dream. As such, decade-long impoverishment has made the Adivasis one of the most backward communities of the state.”
Stressing that the proposed inclusion of Adivasi Communities of Assam in the scheduled tribes list through the Constitution (ST) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2019 a mere promise of the BJP government, the Adivasi student leaders said, “Apart from 36 Adivasi Communities, AASAA demands the government to grant scheduled tribes and scheduled castes status to all those communities of Assam who are eligible for the same in accordance with the guideline as issued by the RGI, NCST and the Constitution of India.”
The AASAA also demanded the state government to provide land pattas against the plots already occupied and settled by the Adivasis on priority basis. Alongside the protest rally, the AASAA also submitted a memorandum to the Margherita sub-divisional officer (civil) addressing Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.