The Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha Assails WPT and BC Department In Kokrajhar, Assam

Our Correspondent

Kokrajhar, July 26: The Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) on Thursday termed the WPT and BC department as a ‘community manufacturing industry’. The president of the BJSM, Janaklal Basumatary said the Government of Assam allowed the All Assam Tribal Sangha to issue ST certificates to non-notified communities by ‘manufacturing’ false communities. The All Assam Tribal Sangha, without having any authority of law and constitution of the country, was issuing ST certificates to the non-notified community people under the disguise of other notified communities, he added.

Basumatary said earlier the non-notified Sarania Kachari community was issued ST certificate under the disguise of Borokachari or Rabha, Modahi community as Rabha, Bokolia community as Sonowal and Tengal Kachari as Kachari which was absolutely unlawful and unconstitutional. This had been stopped by the Gauhati High Court in an order in the case WP{C}2580/2014 dt.28/05/2014. In violation of this court’s order, the WPT &BC department, in consultation with All Assam Tribal Sangha and organizations like Sarania United ST Demand Committee and Sarania Students’ Union, decided to issue ST certificate to Sarnia Kachari community under the disguise of sub-tribe Kachari knowing fully that the Sarania Kachari community was not a notified community and the State Government had no power to include a non-notified community with a notified community.

The president of the BJSM said the All Assam Tribal Sangha was taking one more step forward to dictating that the Sarania people should get ST certificate under Sarania and Kachari titles, without any authority of the law of the land. To prevent the Assam Goverment and All Assam Tribal Sangha from indulging in such unlawful activities, a civil writ petition was filed in the Gauhati High Court vide case no. WP{C} 4840/2018 and in an interim order dated 25/07/2018, the court stopped the All Assam Tribal Sangha from issuing ST certificates to any community, whether notified or non-notified, said Basumatary.