Will challenge Bill if government provides ST status to 6 groups: CCTOA

GUWAHATI: The CCTOA (Coordination Committee of the Tribal Organizations of Assam) has decided to take necessary legal measures challenging the constitutional validity of the Bill, "The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2019," including filing writs before the Supreme Court of India if the Government of India and the State Government of Assam go ahead to grant ST status to these six communities in violation of the Constitution of India, laws, Supreme Court judgements, and policies of the Government of India relating to inclusion in the list of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Talking to The Sentinel, CCTOA chief coordinator Aditya Khakhlari, who is also the secretary general of the All Assam Tribal Sangha (AATS), said, "The decision of the Government of Assam and Government of India to grant Scheduled Tribes (ST) status to six advanced and populous OBC communities of Assam, namely, Koch Rajbongshi, Tai-Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Motok, and Adivasi (Tea-Tribes), is a conspiracy to destroy or exterminate the existing Scheduled Tribes of Assam. If these majority communities are granted Scheduled Tribes status 70 years after India's independence, it shall eliminate (i) political representation of the existing STs from the Gram Sabha to the Lok Sabha and (ii) representation in education and jobs forever. This shall destroy and exterminate the language, culture, identity, and existence of the genuine Scheduled Tribes of Assam."

Khakhlari said, "The move on the part of the Government of India is nothing but aiming at Assam to take political advantage. The move itself is repugnant to the law of the land, and it should be opposed unequivocally. We need to resort to legal action against the move as well as political steps to foil this ugly design of the government. The Coordination Committee of the Tribal Organizations of Assam (CCTOA) decides to oppose the granting of 'Scheduled Tribe' status to the six communities of Assam as it will destroy or exterminate the STs of Assam and India."

The CCTOA opined that the development of the tribals has been in the papers only and has never been translated into reality. The tribal people of India should unitedly come forward to fight against the injustices done to them, to agitate, organise, and achieve the goal. The CCTOA Decides to oppose the granting of "Scheduled Tribe" status to the six communities of Assam as it will destroy or exterminate the STs of Assam and India. Because: If these populous and advanced communities are granted ST status, the political representation of the existing Scheduled Tribes from the Gram Sabha to the Lok Sabha shall be eliminated. The seats currently reserved for the existing STs for the Lok Sabha and State Assembly can be contested by any person from these six communities, as the Constitution of India does not make any differentiation between the same group of people, i.e., the Scheduled Tribe. These communities are educationally and economically advanced and populous (each group claims to have 50 lakhs or more), and there is no way the existing Scheduled Tribes can compete with these advanced groups. After the Government of India erroneously granted ST status to Koch-Rajbongshi in 1996 by promulgating an ordinance, one Sri Karuna Dutta belonging to the Koch-Rajbongshi community won the Majuli (ST) seat in the 1996 general election.

The seats reserved for the existing STs in the three Autonomous Councils [Bodoland Autonomous Council, Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, and Dima Hasao Autonomous Council] under the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution of India and the other Autonomous Councils created by the Assam Government [Tiwa Autonomous Council, Mising Autonomous Council, Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council, Deori Autonomous Council, Thengal Kachari Autonomous Council, and Sonowal Kachari Autonomous Council] can be contested by persons belonging to these six communities. "This shall destroy the existing STs and indeed nullify the creation of these Autonomous Councils to protect the existing Scheduled Tribes," he said.

"If these communities are granted ST status, the existing STs shall not have access to higher education and government jobs. The Meenas of Rajasthan, who constitute about 1.6% of the STs of India as per the 2011 census, secured 35.5% of the seats reserved for the STs in the Civil Services Examination conducted by the UPSC during 2013-2014. If the mainstream communities of Assam are declared 'Scheduled Tribes', the competition for the seats reserved for STs with respect to education and employment at the central level will be between Meenas, the mainstream communities of Assam, and the Koch-rajbongshis. This will affect the tribals of entire India," Khakhlari said.

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