Guwahati: Koch Rajbanshi organisations have renewed their demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status, urging the Assam government to clarify the status of its recommendation to the Centre on the issue.
The organisations submitted a memorandum to Assam Guardian Minister Ashok Singhal at the Circuit House, outlining their demands on ST status, language recognition and other community-related issues.
Representatives of the Koch Rajbanshi Sahitya Sabha, Koch Rajbanshi Lekhika Sabha and Koch Rajbanshi Students’ Association were present during the submission.
Koch Rajbanshi Sahitya Sabha president Dwijendra Nath Bhakat said granting ST status remains the community’s foremost demand. He sought an update on the report prepared by the Assam government in connection with the demand and questioned whether it had been sent to the Centre.
The organisations also sought clarity on why the process of granting ST status had not progressed despite the state government preparing its report.
Another demand was to name the upcoming Dhubri-Phulbari bridge after a prominent Koch Rajbanshi ruler. The groups proposed Maharaja Biswa Singha or Maharaja Parikshit Narayan, citing their historical links with the region.
Bhakat said historical accounts indicate that forts were established in the area during the reigns of Biswa Singha and Parikshit Narayan.
The organisations also called for the Koch Rajbanshi community and Rajbanshi language to be correctly recorded in the ongoing Census. They urged authorities to ensure that the community is identified as Koch Rajbanshi and its language as Rajbanshi.
The groups further demanded the inclusion of Rajbanshi in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Bhakat urged the Assam government to raise the issue in the Cabinet and Assembly before forwarding a recommendation to the Centre.
He pointed to steps taken in West Bengal to promote Rajbanshi and called for similar efforts in Assam.
AKRSU general secretary Nimai Chandra Roy, Koch Rajbanshi Sahitya Sabha Samiti vice-president Bipul Chandra Adhikari, UG AKRSU president Ratul Roy, AKRSU working president Raghu Ranjan Bepari and AKRSU president Shyam Koch were among those present, along with other community representatives and dignitaries.