SHILLONG, July 30: Tribal groups from Karbi Anglong in Assam, Garo Hills in Meghalaya and also from Tripura have joined hands to hold a protest in Delhi next month to press their demand for separate states for indigenous people, members of an umbrella organisation said here on Wednesday.
Activists of several tribal organisations from these areas will organise a sit-in at Jantar Mantar under the banner of the National Federation for New States (NFNS), they said.
The decision was taken after NFNS held its national convention in Shillong, where leaders of regional groups reaffirmed their commitment to the long-standing demand for new states, carved out of tribal-majority areas in Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.
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“We have decided to organise a large protest in Delhi after August 20. This is not a fresh issue. Our long-standing demand is for separate states from Karbi Anglong, Garo Hills, and Tripura,” NFNS Secretary Stalin Ingti said.
Telangana in south India succeeded in its statehood demand, while tribal communities in the Northeast have been ignored, he claimed.
Ingti said that NFNS has been holding meetings in Tura, Karbi Anglong, Delhi, Vidarbha, and Tripura to garner support for the proposed protest in the national capital.
NFNS vice president and Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) Deputy chief executive member Nikman Ch Marak said the federation is seeking a formal dialogue with Union Home Minister Amit Shah after August 23.
“We will go to Delhi to raise our voice for separate states for our people,” he said.
The NFNS includes groups such as the Garo Hills State Movement Committee, Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT), Hill State People’s Socialist Party (HSPSP), Joint Action Committee for Autonomous State (JACAS) of Karbi Anglong, and similar other organisations from Jharkhand, Vidarbha, Bundelkhand, and Ladakh. (PTI)
