AKRSU sets 3-month deadline for government to accord ST status

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The AKRSU (All Koch Rajbongshi Students' Union) has set a three-month deadline for the government to accord ST status to the Koch-Rajbongshis of the State.

Addressing a press conference at Dispur Press Club on Wednesday, AKRSU president Atul Barman said, "Kamatapur Kingdom came under the Government of India following an agreement reached between the two on August 28, 1949. The Koch-Rajbongshis have not been getting any of the facilities promised in that agreement. The ethnic group had to die an untimely death. Around 90 per cent people of the ethnic group are politically and educationally backward. Why should a government, which doesn't hesitate to the pass the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) amidst high-pitched protest everywhere, hesitates to accord ST status to the Koch-Rajbongshis?"

Announcing the agitation schedule of the union, Barman said, "On December 20 we're going to burn the effigies of the ministers who comprise the GoM (Group of Ministers). In the last week of December this year, we're going to hold sit-in strikes in Guwahati. A rail blockade will be called in the first week of January and padayatras in the last week, besides submitting a memorandum to the Prime Minister. In mid-February, we're going to hold mass rallies in districts and in February-end, we're going to hold a Delhi yatra. In the first part of March, we're going to call a 500-hour Kamatapur bandh. If the government doesn't know the language of democratic agitation during this three months, we won't opt for any democratic agitation anymore. We'll have to think for something alternative."

The GoM is yet to submit its report to the government on according ST status to the six ethnic groups of the State.

Also Read: TAYPA, CYSA, AKRSU: Countrywide protests against Citizenship Amendment Act

Also Watch: AASU Rally Against CAA 2019 in Kokrajhar