BJSM slams minister Chandan Brahma over ST certificate row

KOKRAJHAR: The president of Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM), Janaklal Basumatary on Thursday slammed the State WPT&BC Chandan Brahma for giving order to issue ST certificates to non-notified, non-ST people.

In a statement, Basumatary said that Chandan Brahma was like a 'black sheep' among Boro leaders as he was doing all illegal things in his WPT and BC ministry. He further said that Brahma had ordered through his secretaries to issue ST certificates to the communities which were not listed in the ST list in Assam, in the constitutional ST order 1950 as amended in 1947, when he had no power to do so. "Now the case to quash his illegal order is facing inordinate delay in the high court. Since the last 12 months, due to coronavirus, the matter has been delayed. After resumption of court we expect early order for that," he said.

"Again he recommended 36 different communities of tea workers for ST recognition. All the 36 communities are not communities of Assam, they are individual tea worker migrants from various other States like West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhandh, Odisha and Chattisgarh. The Assam Government cannot recommend these communities of other States under Article 342 (2) of the Indian Constitution. It can recommend only a community belonging to its own State," he said.

Basumatary said that Koch Rajbongshi was not the same ethnic community, Koch was different and Rajbongshi was a different ethnic community. He said there was no community by the name Koch Rajbongshi. "In Bengal, Meghalaya and Assam, the Koch and Rajbongshi are separate communities. There is no Koch Rajbongshi community. The State Government cannot recommend it for ST if it is not a community under Article 342 (2) of the Constitution. In Assam, originally Koch and Rajbongshi are recognised as OBC separately. Only the Khatriya Rajbongshis wrote Koch Rajbongshi when they started to demand ST from mid-80s. No ST quota can be given to Ahom, Chutiya, Moran and Matak for the same reason that they are large in number and more developed than the existing ST communities and they do not require any protection as the existing STs need. So here also the State Government has wrongly recommended these communities for ST without any justification," he added.

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