Staff reporter
Guwahati: In the run-up to the 2026 Assam Legislative Assembly elections, the Hindu Suraksha Sena, Assam, has renewed the demand for granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six indigenous communities of Assam, while also calling for the inclusion of the Nath-Yogi community in the list.
Addressing the media, Kanchan Nath, president of the Central Committee of Hindu Suraksha Sena, criticized successive governments for their inaction on this long-pending demand. Nath alleged that despite the legitimacy and prolonged struggle of these communities, neither the previous Congress government nor the current BJP regime has taken meaningful steps to resolve the issue.
He noted that although there was optimism when the BJP came to power—both at the Centre for the last 11 years and in Assam for over nine years—the community’s aspirations remain unfulfilled. “The delay and indecisiveness shown by the government are deeply regrettable,” said Nath.
Highlighting the vulnerability of indigenous groups in the face of what he termed as the “aggression” of so-called ‘Miya’ settlers, Nath emphasized that ST recognition could serve as a protective measure for the native population. “Instead of using the ST status as a shield to protect the sons of the soil, the government has chosen to delay and ignore the issue,” he added.
The Hindu Suraksha Sena has, therefore, urged the government to act swiftly and grant ST status to all seven communities, including Nath-Yogi, without further bureaucratic hurdles.
Nath also raised serious concerns about the plight of indigenous and Hindu individuals allegedly detained in Assam’s detention camps under the label of “foreigners.” He questioned the contradiction between the BJP-RSS’s ideological stance—“No Hindu is a foreigner in India”—and the reality on the ground.
“Even after the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), how is it that Hindus are still being kept in detention camps? On what grounds is this being done?” he asked.
The organization demanded immediate government intervention to release such individuals and to review the processes that have led to the incarceration of indigenous and Hindu persons as foreigners.
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