Dibrugarh: The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president, Bhupen Borah, on Saturday slammed the BJP government for its failure to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six ethnic groups in Assam.
Addressing a press conference in Dibrugarh, Borah said, “When our government was in power in Assam, we took the matter seriously and initiated the process to provide ST status to these six ethnic communities. Now, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is blaming us, saying it was due to our mistakes that they cannot grant ST status to these groups. This is a false statement.”
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Borah added, “We met with top BJP leaders, including Rajnath Singh, and informed them about the issue, but nothing fruitful has come from it. Now, they are shifting the blame on us. In reality, they do not want the six ethnic groups of Assam to receive ST status.”
Senior Congress leader and Nagaon MP Pradyut Bordoloi also lashed out at Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for delaying the ST status decision for these ethnic groups.
“Nine years ago, before the parliamentary elections, PM Modi promised that if their government came into power, within 100 days, the six ethnic groups of Assam would be granted ST status. Now, BJP is in power both at the state and central levels, yet they have not fulfilled this promise. Congress has always supported these communities’ demand for ST status, as they are the indigenous people of Assam,” Bordoloi said.
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“We believe ST status should be granted to these six ethnic groups, and if necessary, Assam should be declared a tribal state. We have no objection to that,” he added.
Bordoloi also accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of promoting casteism and trying to brand himself as a Hindutva leader, claiming that Sarma’s policies are hindering the ST status process.
Notably, all six communities meet the five criteria for ST classification, which include evidence of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographic isolation, reluctance to integrate with the general population, and socio-economic backwardness, according to central government norms.
In 2019, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) approved that these communities meet the qualifications for inclusion in Assam’s ST list.