Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, FEBRUARY 12
THE Adivasi community in Assam on Wednesday fired a blunt warning to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi that they would oppose the Congress “tooth and nail” in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
This move from the Adivasi community comes as a retaliatory act to what it termed as the Assam government’s “insincerity in scheduling the Adivasis of Assam.” To announce their decision to shun the ruling Congress, the Adivasis today staged campaigns all across Assam.
Led by the influential All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA) and the Adivasi National Convention Committee (ANCC), the single message send from the campaigns today was “No ST (status), No Vote.”
President of the Karbi Anglong based AASAA, Anil Toppo said that due to the willful negligence on the part of the Assam government the RGI had repeatedly rejected their appeals for Schedule Tribe status. “Truly speaking, the Congress (I) party ruling the nation for nearly half a century has no agenda to schedule the Adivasis of Assam.
“The Adivasis of Assam have been strongly agitating since 1967 for ST status enjoyed by them during the British rule and even after independence. The ruling Congress have always been playing dirty tactics for the grant of ST status,” he said in a message.
Both the AASAA and ANCC cautioned the Congress (I) not to play “vote bank cheap politics” with the Adivasis. The government has no commitment to safeguard and protect the community socially, economically and politically, they said.
The two apex organizations also condemned the roles of “high profile politicians Paban Singh Ghatowar and Prethibi Majhi.” “They have no love for the Adivasi samaj but are busy safeguarding their chair and power, till date they have done nothing for the betterment of Adivasis.”
Besides the Assam politicians, the Adivasi community also warned the Joint Secretary MHA, Shambu Singh against playing “dirty politics with the young Adivasi minds” on the pretext of peace talks. “He assures moon to the members of the five negotiating Adivasi militant groups when his peace talks have failed to move even an inch,” they said.
