Kokrajhar AASA staged massive rally demanding Special ST status to Tea Tribe Communities in Assam

Kokrajhar: Demanding special ST status to the Adivashi Community, on Friday under the aegis of All Adivasi Students' Association (AASA) along with other tea tribe communities staged a massive rally in Kokrajhar.

The tea tribe communities launched their rallies from Gourang River in Kokrajhar and chanted several slogans against the BJP-led Government.

The bodies while shouting slogans stated that the demand for ST status to the Adivasi community as genuine, the bodies further appealed before the BJP Government to grant the special ST status to all the tea tribe communities of Assam before the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, else their entry inside the Adivasi dominated areas will be clogged.

It may be mentioned that the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA) on Wednesday staged a three-hour protest dharna at Children Park near the Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner’s office to demand Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the Adivasis of Assam.

Over a hundred people belonging to the tea tribe community joined the dharna with placards and banners and shouted slogans.

The bodies also submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the Deputy Commissioner, Kokrajhar demanding inclusion of Adivasis of Assam in the list of Scheduled Tribes.

Rejen Hoho, vice-president of AASAA, earlier said the demand for inclusion of Oraons, Mundas, Santhals, Kharias, Gonds, Sawras and other communities into the list of Scheduled Tribes of Assam was not a new thing, rather the time had come for recognition of these tribes as Scheduled Tribes because their blood brothers living in the other States of India had been recognized as ST. They also threatened of intensifying agitation if the tea tribes were not granted ST status.