Tribals should be included in NRC simply by producing tribal certificate, demands JSM
From our Correspondent
KOKRAJHAR, June 15: The Jajati Suraksha Manch (JSM) on Monday demanded that the Government of Assam should ensure that NRC update work is done in the residences in the tribal areas as they are the sons of the soil and protected class of people under the Constitution of India. The JSM also strongly opposed the move of the BJP government to include the six communities of Assam in the Scheduled Tribe list and the process of NRC update in tribal areas of the State.
The decision of opposing ST status to six communities was taken in a meeting of tribal intellectuals and senior citizens held on Sunday at the Basic Training Centre, Kokrajhar under the aegis of Kokrajhar district committee, JSM where they again discussed the Centre’s move to include six communities in the ST list.
In a press statement, JSM advisors Jaklal Basumatary and DD rzary, president Bijon Brahma and secretary Ashok Kr. Brahma said that if the six communities were included in the ST list the existing tribal demography would change, the political rights of the tribal people would be stched away and the tribal as a whole would be rooted out from their own soil. The process of inclusion of six communities by successive governments in different times have been rejected by the Registrar General of India (RGI) on the ground of non-fulfillment of criteria as per the Constitution of India, they said, adding that if the government proceeded in violation of this criteria, the existing tribals would be deprived of their protection guaranteed in the Constitution of India.
The JSM leaders also stated that the updating of NRC in tribal areas was nothing but registration of non-protected class of people in the tribal belt and block areas who had been illegally occupying the tribal lands. The meeting strongly opposed the updating of NRC in tribal areas and demanded the Centre and the State Government to register them in their origil home address from where they migrated. The JSM further demanded the government to evict all the illegal intruders from tribal belt and block areas. They said both the Central and State governments, instead of detecting and deporting the foreigners, were harassing the tribal people of Assam by imposing their criteria for NRC and for the purpose of detecting Pakistani or Bangladeshi intruders.
The tribal leaders strongly urged the government to stop the harassment of tribal people in the me of updating the NRC process and added that tribals should be registered in their residences without prescribed criteria on the simple production of tribal certificate. They also strongly opposed the proposal of establishment of Ajmal College and Ajmal Foundation at Hasraobari under tribal belt of Gossaigaon subdivision and other tribal areas in BTC region saying that the projects could have deep-rooted conspiracy to protect the illegal occupants of tribal lands and put the protection guaranteed to tribal people by the Constitution at risk.