The clamour for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status by organizations of six communities in Assam has grown bigger. The opposition to the demand by organizations representing existing ST communities in the state is also snowballing. With organizations linking their demands to electoral choices in the 2026 Assembly polls, which are less than five months away, if solutions are not found before the polls, it will complicate the issue for the state government. The existing ST communities are apprehensive of losing the privileges and reservation entitlements currently enjoyed by them if the ST list is expanded to accommodate the six communities. Their primary worry is that they would not be able to compete with “advanced and populous communities” seeking ST status to qualify for the reserved quotas in education, government jobs, etc. While the persistent position of the coordinating bodies of the existing ST communities has been that they are not opposed to the inclusion of the six communities in the ST list, but a decision to this effect should not affect them, a rally held under the aegis of the Coordination Committee of Tribal Organisation in Assam, vowing to oppose the ST tag for the six communities, speaks volumes of the complexity in arriving at a consensus. Organisations of the six communities, on the other hand, have been taking out rallies separately in different districts to mount pressure on the state government ahead of the winter session of the Assam Assembly, during which the government will table the much-awaited report of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the issue. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s appeal to the organizations of both the existing ST groups and the six communities till the report is tabled was a prudent approach to the issue, which is highly sensitive and delicate. Organisations continuing to take out rallies without waiting to find out what the GoM is going to recommend is an act in haste and risks jumping the gun. The state government is aware of the complexities and is expected to chart a middle path – one that finely balances the aspirations of the six communities with the apprehension of the existing tribal communities. The report of the GoM will also be required to be sent to the central government to facilitate the process of expediting the passing of The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2019, pending before the Rajya Sabha in both the Houses. The modalities approved by the Central Government for deciding the claims for inclusion in and exclusion from the ST lists stipulate that only those proposals which have been recommended and justified, along with ethnographic details, by the State Government/Union Territory Administration concerned can be processed further. As the proposals for inclusion or exclusion are to be concurred with by the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes before being considered for amendment legislation, passing of the bill ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls is a remote possibility, unless the process is fast-tracked once the recommendation of the GoM reaches the central government to act further. The GoM has held extensive and multiple consultations with the organisations of the six communities and CCTOA, which is believed to have fostered confidence in Chief Minister Sarma in arriving at a consensus. The primary difficulty in resolving the long-pending issue appears to have stemmed from the complexities of sharing the power of governance in the existing autonomous councils in the state, as the seats are reserved for ST communities. Overlap of the population of existing ST communities and communities seeking ST status in some areas of the autonomous councils has given rise to the apprehension among the existing ST groups of losing the governance control in these tribal councils. The harsh reality for both existing tribal communities and the six communities is the unabated migration of immigrant settlers from Bangladesh. Rampant land grabbing through encroachment of forest land, government land, tribal belts and blocks, and community land owned by indigenous communities by them has not only altered the demography and posed an existential threat, but there is also a sinister design by immigrant groups to take away the political rights of indigenous people by increasing their number among electorates in majority constituencies. When the indigenous communities remain divided, it becomes easier for them to advance their evil design by taking advantage of the volatile political climate and chaos and confusion among indigenous people. Organizations of both existing tribal organisations and the six communities sorting out differences among them through dialogue and consultation is a more prudent approach to thwart the evil design of the immigrant settlers. Under such changing political dynamics, increasing the number of reserved seats in the state assembly, Lok Sabha, and other elected bodies through expansion of the ST list remains a viable political option, but it is essential that the interests of all indigenous communities are safeguarded.