HT Correspondent
GOSSAIGAON, Feb 8: The undivided Goalpara Koch-Rajbongshi Sanmilani and its Youth and Students’ Wing on Friday issued a stern warning to the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Assam, threatening to bar the party from Koch-Rajbongshi-dominated areas and launch a “No ST, No Vote” campaign if Scheduled Tribe (ST) status is not granted to the community before the 2026 Assam Legislative Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference at the Kamal Nath Club-cum-Library here, Sanmilani president Surat Chandra Ray accused the BJP of indulging in “long-standing deception” over the issue of tribal status, even as the Assembly elections draw closer. He said the Koch-Rajbongshi community, an indigenous population of lower Assam, particularly in the undivided Goalpara district, continues to remain severely backward in the fields of education, healthcare, economy and political representation.
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Ray said the Koch-Rajbongshi community has been demanding ST status since 1965 to ensure a dignified existence. He recalled that during the tenure of former chief minister Hiteswar Saikia, ST status was granted to the community through a Presidential Ordinance. However, the status was withdrawn within a year after the Asom Gana Parishad came to power in 1996, following an adverse report, as the Centre failed to secure parliamentary approval for the bill.
He further stated that the community had earlier been recognised as extremely backward by former chief minister Sarat Chandra Sinha and had also received favourable recommendations from a three-member parliamentary select committee and various commissions. Despite this, ST status has still not been accorded to the Koch-Rajbongshis, he alleged.
The Sanmilani president accused the BJP government of misleading the community by making repeated promises. He said that in 2019, community leaders were invited to Khanapara and assured that a “modality” for granting ST status would be worked out, which helped the party overcome electoral hurdles in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections. “Now, ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, the government has again started confusing people by floating new classifications like ST (V) and ST (P),” Ray said, demanding immediate fulfilment of the promise if the government was sincere about addressing indigenous issues.
Issuing a final warning, Ray said the Koch-Rajbongshi community would boycott the BJP in the 2026 elections if ST status was not granted before the polls.
Echoing the demand, Youth Sanmilani president Bishnu Ray warned that failure to grant ST status would trigger a massive agitation, with lakhs of people from Assam as well as Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, West Bengal and Bihar expected to participate. He made a controversial remark, stating that he was prepared to “take the first bullet” if the government resorted to firing on protesters.
Bishnu Ray also warned of declaring Koch-Rajbongshi-dominated areas out of bounds for the BJP and taking action against individuals who, he alleged, called bandhs and movements in the name of ST status only to withdraw them later after striking “monetary deals” with the government.
