Indefinite economic blockade in Dibrugarh over ST status demand

Dibrugarh: With the aim of pressurising the BJP-led government to grant of Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Tai Ahom community of Assam ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the All Tai Ahom Students’ Union (Atasu) on Sunday began an indefinite economic blockade in Dibrugarh district on Sunday.
The agitation severely affected the movements of commercial vehicles and cut off supplies of oil, domestic gas and commodities of daily needs to the district. It also affected drilling and exploration activities of the Duliajan-based Oil India Limited (OIL) as the agitators obstructed the company’s vehicles carrying workers from entering various oilfields.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh in January this year had said a bill would be introduced soon which will propose to grant ST status to six Assam communities — Tai Ahoms, Koch Rajbongshis, Chutiyas, Tea Tribes, Morans and Motoks. However, the bill could not be introduced in the Lok Sabha.

Atasu Dibrugarh district general secretary Abhijit Borpatra Gohain said, “Our protest is against the hollow promises of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This has been a poll promise of the BJP ahead of 2014 and now we are on the cusp of another general election. We won’t call off our economic blockade unless the chief minister gives it in writing that the ST status will be granted to these six communities.”

Granting ST status to these six communities was a poll promise of the BJP ahead of the 2014 general elections. While on campaign trail ahead of the polls, Narendra Modi, who went on to become the Prime Minister, had promised to ensure that the BJP would, if it came to power, grant ST status to these six communities. PM Modi and Sarbananda Sonowal, who went on to be the chief minister, had also raised the issue while campaigning ahead of the state polls in 2016.

Political analysts have pointed out that if the six communities are awarded ST status, over 50% of the state’s population will become scheduled tribes, thus paving the way for Assam to become a tribal state officially. In that case, the number of assembly seats reserved for STs is also expected to increase from 16 to about 80. Currently, in the 126-member Assam assembly, 102 are general seats, eight are reserved for scheduled castes and 16 for STs. Many believe that if Assam becomes a tribal-majority state, it would help fight the problem of illegal immigration which is a threat to the state’s demography — an issue that has always kept the political cauldron simmering in the state and has given rise to the myriad citizenship-determining processes.

However, many of the existing ST communities of Assam have been strongly opposing the move, arguing that these six communities enjoy considerable academic and economical privileges.

With protests and counter-protests over the issue, granting of ST status to these six communities is once again expected to dominate the headlines and maybe even determine electoral mathematics in the state in the run-up to the general elections.