HT Correspondent
DIBRUGARH, Sept 7: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Borah on Saturday blamed BJP government for allegedly 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 community of Assam. Now, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma blamed us that due to our mistake, they could 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 been comes 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 came down heavily on Himanta Biswa Sarma for delaying in providing ST status to six-ethnic groups of Assam.
“Nine years ago, before parliamentary election, PM Modi have promised that if their government will comes 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 community. Congress always wants that these communities should tag as Scheduled Tribe because they are the indigenous people of Assam,” Bordoloi said.
He said, “We want that ST status should be granted to the six-ethnic groups and if necessary Assam should be declared as a tribal state and we have no problem”.
“Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has been trying brand himself as a Hindutav leader and he believes in casteism who don’t want ST status to be granted to six-ethnic groups,” Bordoloi alleged.
Notably, all the six communities meet the five criteria for ST classification, which include 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.
