Congress bid to steal BJP’s ST thunder in Assam

Dibrugarh/Guwahati: Come election and Assam is bound to reverberate with slogans seeking tribal status for various ethnic groups, who can sway results in at least six of the state’s 14 Lok Sabha seats.
Deviating from its Hindutva agenda, BJP had in 2014 promised to include indigenous communities of the state in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list. It was the first time that a major contender had taken up the cudgels on behalf of the indigenous people. Of the seven seats BJP won, four--- Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh and Tezpur, are dominated by these communities. These constituencies were earlier considered Congress strongholds and BJP had never won them.

This time, however, Congress has been trying to beat BJP at its own game. Its president, Rahul Gandhi, has made two election promises exactly in line with the sentiments of the indigenous voter base – passing the ST status bill and scrapping the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.

Weeks before the election dates were announced, BJP introduced The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha. The bill proposed ST status for six communities–tea tribes Adivasis of Chhota Nagpur origin), Matak, Moran, Koch Rajbongshi, Tai Ahom and Chutiya. The ST proposal was placed in the upper house amid widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that had been passed by the Lok Sabha just a day earlier. It helped the Centre minimise the anger against the citizenship bill in areas dominated by the six ethnic groups.

As of now, the bill remains pending in the Rajya Sabha because of BJP’s inability to bring it up for discussion. “If BJP really wanted, it would have passed the bill a long time ago and not waited until the last Parliament session,” says Budhan Karmakar, president of the Barbaruah unit of the All Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association.

The demand for ST status by these communities goes back to at least four decades. If they get ST status, the tribal population of the state would be more than 50%. The number of ST seats, consequently, would go up significantly and several areas would be declared tribal land.

“We fear that because of the protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, a deal may be struck to junk the ST status bill. Since we are politically deprived communities, we depend on others,” says David Chetia, president of the All Assam Matak Yuba Chhatra Sanmelan. “Rahul Gandhi has promised to put our ST demand in the Congress manifesto. Leaders from all six communities met him and he has given us his word,” he adds.

BJP finds it difficult to convince the existing STs that the move to recognise the six OBC groups as tribes would not adversely affect them.

Some of them feel that the demand for ST status itself is unjustified. “Most of the six communities have been at the forefront of Assamese society. How would we compete with them?” says Ramen Singh Rabha, chief coordinator of the Rabha Hasong Joint Movement Committee.

Others want the government to address the concerns of existing tribes first. “It is disturbing that the BJP-led government is trying to win these communities over with ST status while overlooking the concerns of existing ST communities,” says Dipen Mosrong, president of the Tiwa Students’ Union.

BJP, meanwhile, is confident of the bill will play out in its favour in the Lok Sabha election. “Opposition to the ST status bill is merely political, all from Congress or its closet supporters. The real Assamese people will be protected because of what we are trying to do,” says Akhim Hazarika, president of the BJP ST Morcha in Assam.