Demand for separate Bokajan district gains momentum in East Karbi Anglong

Bokajan: The Bokajan District Demand Committee (BDDC) on Tuesday marched through a section of the national highway demanding immediate withdrawal of the committee constituted by the KAAC CEM to study the demand to curtail ‘the right to adult franchise’ of non-tribals residing in Karbi Anglong. The organization also demanded that Bokajan subdivision be declared a full-fledged district for the all-round development and peaceful existence of the non-tribals. The protesters further demanded to immediately issue land pattas to the non-tribal peoples of the hill district.

Later, the organization submitted a memorandum to the Governor of Assam through the SDO(C) Bokajan, drawing the former’s attention towards the grievances of the non-tribal people in the hill district of Karbi Anglong. Moreover, the organization urged the government to ensure justice and political safeguard to the non-tribal populace which constitute more than 75 per cent of the total population in the district.

The memorandum stated that the entire Bokajan subdivision was a geographically plain belt with more than 75 per cent of non-tribal settlements. The present day tribal villages in Bokajan are newly established model villages to counter the non-tribal settlements and maintain the demographic balance. Prior to 1951, there were no hills tribal villages and the area was part of the erstwhile Sivasagar district. The area was administered under local boards from Golaghat Sadar and was outside the preview of the partially excluded area since the colonial regime.

The memorandum further stated that the Government of India, in the post-Independence period imposed the Sixth Schedule and Article 244(2) of the Indian Constitution in the vast non-tribal dominated areas of the hill district without taking into account the racial affinities, geographical factors and administrative feasibility of the region. The scope of the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and Article 244(2) is limited to the Scheduled Tribe hill dominated areas and cannot be extended to the non-tribal dominated areas. BDDC also blamed the Assam Government and the KAAA authorities for forcefully retaining the non-tribal areas under the ambit of Sixth Schedule and grossly exploiting the rights of non-tribal people.