As the Budget Session of the Assam State Legislative Assembly is going on, demanding separate Kamatapur state and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categorization of the Koch-Rajbongshi community, the All Koch-Rajbongshi Students’ Union (AKRSU) along with All Koch-Rajbongshi Mahila Samiti (AKRMS) and Chila Ray Sena (CRS) on Tuesday staged protest at the Dispur Last Gate.
The AKRSU, which has been demanding separate Kamatapur state for the last three decades, staged the protest for three hours.
The protesting leaders stated that apart from the Assam government, they have also placed their demand for a separate Kamatapur state before the Central government and the West Bengal government. They expressed anger at non-acceptance of their demand by the Centre till date.
Talking to the media, AKRSU general secretary Gokul Barman while expressing his resentment said, “After coming to power the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government has forgotten the promise of separate Kamatapur state and ST status for the Koch-Rajbongshi community.”
He further said, “Moreover, the BJP had promised to give ST status to the six communities of Assam within six months after coming to power at the Centre. But unfortunately, even after four years of coming to power the Central government has not been able to solve the ST status issue.”
Citing examples of states like Jharkhand , Uttarakhand and Chattisgarh, Barman questioned the Central government, “If the people of such states can get justice, then why the Koch-Rajbongshi people have been deprived of their rights under the same Constitution?”
AKRSU leader Barman also opposed the statement by Assam Forest and Environment Minister Pramila Rani Brahma that “the issue of ST status is currently out of the consideration of the Central government”.
Barman informed that if the government does not take any step to fulfil their demands even after Tuesday’s dharna, the AKRSU threatened to stage 12-hour rail blockade on March 30 and 12-hour National Highway blockade on March 30.
And if the government does not take any step to fulfil their demands even after that, the AKRSU announced that it would launch a 100-hour economic blockade.