Reservation Row: 5 Nagaland tribes to abstain from government events, including Independence Day

KOHIMA — The 5 Tribes Committee on Review of Reservation Policy (CoRRP) on Saturday announced that its apex tribal bodies and frontal organisations will abstain from participating in government functions, including the upcoming Independence Day celebration, to protest the composition of the recently constituted Reservation Review Commission.

The decision followed a meeting between the CoRRP and apex tribal body representatives at Hotel Ura, Kohima.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, CoRRP convenor Tesinlo Semy said the committee had met with apex hohos, youth and student bodies to discuss the State Cabinet’s August 6 decision on the Reservation Review Commission. While the government’s move was appreciated, “We are not happy with the composition of the commission,” he said, referring to the inclusion of civil society organisations.

Stating that the CoRRP and the tribal bodies “do not accept” this arrangement, Semy added, “We have decided that we will not participate or will abstain from any government functions, including the Independence Day celebration.”

Also read: Nagaland Cabinet forms commission to review job reservation policy

He maintained that the committee opposed the inclusion of civil society organisations in order to ensure the commission’s independence and impartiality, and called for it to be made up entirely of government officials, whether retired or in service.

CoRRP member secretary GK Zhimomi said the commission was not originally demanded by the committee, but was an “outcome of the June 3 meeting with the state government, headed by Deputy Chief Minister (Home) Y Patton, in which we had reiterated our core demands. But then we had come to a decision that an independent commission will be set up, and based on that also, we had agreed.”

He said the state government had agreed in principle on June 12 to constitute a commission, but its composition was not specified until August 6, when a seven-member body including civil society organisations was announced.

“We have made it very clear from the beginning that CSOs should not be a part of this commission.

The commission should be an independent commission to have an impartial and fair assessment of the entire reservation policy. That has been our demand in the first place. We stand by it, and today again we have reiterated it,” said Zhimomi.

He also criticised remarks made by government spokesperson and Minister KG Kenye, who had said that the five tribes accounted for 64% of state employment.

“The Minister citing 64% by five advanced tribes is a wildly imaginary figure. It is way beyond the mark; it is not even borderline also. We have the data with us, but it will be revealed at an appropriate time,” Zhimomi said.

Read more: 5 Tribes CoRRP slams Nagaland Cabinet’s move on reservation review

“Also, as a Government spokesman and as an honourable Minister, we should not indulge in those wild figures which will provoke the situation.”

On the minister’s claim that the government is neutral on the issue, Zhimomi questioned why the spokesperson was “justifying the 48-year-old state reservation policy by citing the 78-year-old SC/ST reservation at the Centre.”

“It’s entirely different,” he said, adding that the Centre’s policy has “got nothing to do with, or interlink with, the state government’s backward tribe reservation policy.”

When asked if CoRRP intended to engage with communities benefiting from the backward quota, Zhimomi replied that it was the role of the commission to gather views and for the government to make a final decision.

“It is not that the non-backward and backward, so-called advanced tribes can come to a consensus. It’s the duty of the government to take the views of both sides and come up with a fair deal for both sides,” he said.

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Calling the abstention of government functions the third phase of their protest, Zhimomi reiterated that the committee welcomed the constitution of the commission but was “vehemently against the composition which includes the CSOs.”

He said CoRRP accepted the six-month timeframe given to the commission but “any delay or extension will be totally unacceptable.” He added that the government must implement the commission’s recommendations immediately upon submission and should not link the outcome to the upcoming census.

“If the state government is adamant linking the reservation review outcome with the census, then we are demanding that the reservation be suspended till such time,” he said.

He added that it is now up to the government to decide whether to invite the CoRRP or let them continue with their plans. If not invited, “Then we say we are going to abstain from participation in all state government functions, including Independence Day,” he said.

Zhimomi added that the abstention “can go beyond August.”