Threaten to launch hunger strike on March 6
Panaji: Leaders of various tribal organisations on Sunday issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the BJP government over their demand for reservation of four assembly seats for Goa’s scheduled tribes.
They threatened to launch a hunger strike at Azad Maidan, Panaji on March 6 if a notification stipulating reservation of seats is not issued within 48 hours.
Addressing a press conference in the city, the tribal leaders said they have been demanding issuance of final notification reserving assembly seats for the last two years.
Political reservation is a constitutional right, which has been pending for 20 years, they said, warning that the community will teach a lesson to the ruling party if the demand is not fulfilled before the code of conduct comes into force for the parliamentary elections.
Tribal leader Rupesh Velip said the ST organisations have been disappointed by the delaying tactics of the BJP government.
“A Delimitation Commission was constituted in 2020 under the chairmanship of Justice (retired) Ranjana Prakash Desai to reserve assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland. Hence the Modi government should send recommendation to the President of India for promulgation of an ordinance to include Goa in the Gazette notification issued by the ministry of law and justice on March 6, 2020. Or the central government should come out with a similar notification for the state of Goa and issue final notification to reserve four assembly seats for STs. Or at par with the Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre should issue an executive order before the Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Velip reckoned that constitution of a fresh delimitation commission for Goa will take a long time and the community may not get reservation even for the 2027 assembly elections.
Tribal leader and social activist Rama Kankonkar recalled that the delegation that met Union Home Minister Amit Shah had been assured that the proposal on political reservation would come up before the Union cabinet on February 28.
“But till date nothing has happened in this regard,” Kankonkar said, adding that Modi government has been fooling the community over the demand for the last two years.
“Hence we are issuing an ultimatum of 48 hours to the government as only few days are left for the code of conduct to come into force,” he said.
If the government fails to act within 48 hours, then the tribal community will decide the further course of action at ‘Aadivasi Maand’, Kankonkar said.
“We will definitely play a crucial role in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, which will damage prospects of the ruling BJP,” he warned.
Ramakrishna Jalmi, Siddharth Bandodkar, Harsha Wadkar, Raju Bhagat and over 50 leaders of various tribal organisations were present for the press conference.