Guwahati: Over 300 activists of 36 Rabha organizations from Assam staged a two-hour-long sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday demanding Sixth Schedule status for the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) to check influx from Bangladesh.
The RHAC was constituted by the Assam government in 1995 with its headquarters at Dudhnai town in Goalpara district. It has jurisdiction over 779 villages in Kamrup and Goalpara districts.
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Rabhas, with a population of 4 lakh, are recognized as the fourteenth Scheduled Tribe (Plains) of Assam. Apart from Assam‘s Goalpara and Kamrup districts, Rabhas are also scattered in Meghalaya and some parts of West Bengal.
“Sixth Schedule status is one of our long-standing demands. We want it for the protection of our land, identity, and language from Bangladeshi immigrants. The RHAC area has been regarded as the corridor of influx. This area is the haven for the people who migrated from Bangladesh through Mankachar. From here they go to various places of the state and Northeast,” said Namal Rabha, vice president, All Rabha Students Union (ARSU), Kamrup District Committee.
The protest was led by Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) CEM Takeswar Rabha, All Rabha Student Union (ARSU) president Nripen Khanda, Kamrup District ARSU vice president Namal Rabha, All Rabha Women Council (ARWC) president Lalita Rabha and general secretary Kabita Rabha, Sixth Scheduler Demand Committee (SSDC) president Dasarath Rabha and general secretary Ashok Kumar Rabha.
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The protestors also submitted a memorandum to Union home minister Amit Shah in support of their demands.