Assam: Students protest against granting Scheduled Tribes status to six communities

Protests have erupted in Assam's Kokrajhar after the state Cabinet cleared the Group of Ministers report that recommends granting Scheduled Tribe status to six communities, reported India Today.

The report that recommends including the six communities – Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Motok, Koch-Rajbongshi and Tea Tribes (Adivasis) – in the Scheduled Tribes list was cleared on Wednesday.

It will be tabled in the Assembly during the ongoing Winter Session before being sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for consideration.

Communities that are already part of the Scheduled Tribes list have been holding protests against the move. They have alleged that the decision to expand the Scheduled Tribes list is “politically motivated” in view of the state polls, expected to be held in the first half of 2026.

They have also argued that adding more communities to the Scheduled Tribes list would hurt the rights of the tribes already on the list.

On Friday, tribal students of Science College in Kokrajhar held a demonstration at the entrance of the institution against the Cabinet's move, reported India Today.

They alleged that the decision to expand the Scheduled Tribes list would negatively impact their educational and employment opportunities.

A day earlier, tribal students of Bodoland University held a protest outside the main gate of the campus, forcing all third-semester examinations to be cancelled for the day, reported The Telegraph.

They reportedly shouted slogans against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

On Thursday evening, organisations representing the Bodo, Rabha and Garo communities, part of the Scheduled Tribes list, held a torchlight rally in Kokrajhar to express their opposition to what they said was a “detrimental political move”.

They alleged that the state government was including “advanced and populous” communities to the Scheduled Tribes list, according to The Telegraph.

The six communities named in the report are currently part of Assam's Other Backward Classes list and comprise about 27% of the state's population.

The demand to be included in the Scheduled Tribes list increased in recent weeks ahead of the Assembly elections.

Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a bill proposing to include the six groups in Assam's Scheduled Tribes list was introduced in the Rajya Sabha. However, it was not taken up for discussion or passed. The Group of Ministers was constituted based on the directions by the Union home ministry that year.

Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised the six communities that they would be granted the Scheduled Tribes status.

Following the delimitation exercise of 2023-'24, the number of seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the 126-member Assam Assembly increased from 16 to 19. Delimitation is the process of fixing boundaries of territorial constituencies.

Also read: BJP claims to protect ‘indigenous' groups in Assam. But they are protesting against its government

Source: Scroll
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