Over 600 join Chutia torch rally in Dhakuakhana demanding ST status
Over 600 members join Dhakuakhana protest, warning State & Centre to fulfil ST status promise made in 2014.
CYSA protesting for ST status in North Lakhimpur.
North Lakhimpur, Sept 11: A massive torch rally was taken out by the Chutia Yuva Sanmilan, Asom (CYSA) in Dhakuakhana here, demanding Scheduled Tribes (ST) status for the Chutia community in the State.
The protest march was taken out on the night of September 9 in Dhakuakhana, and led by CYSA’s president Kaustabh Kishore Chutia, general secretary Palash Hazarika. Around 600 members from Dhakuakhana, Ghilamora, Machkhowa, Bogeenadi units of the organisation joined the rally.
The protest march started from the Sati Sadhani Bhawan in Dhakuakhana covering the main roads of the sub-district headquarter with youths, women and elderly persons from the Chutia community participating.
Leading the torch march, the adviser of CYSA, Mahen Saikia, criticised the State government for ‘betraying’ the Chutia community in their promise of granting ST status. CYSA’s president Kaustabh Kishore Chutia said that the march was just the beginning of a democratic movement demanding the dues of the community.
He said that the Chutia community can’t be fooled by the by the governments at the Centre and the State that had promised them ST status. The protesting leaders also recalled the promise of granting ST status to the Chutias in the poll manifesto of the BJP in 2014.
The procession marched with placards stating ‘No ST, no rest’ and threatened to respond with ballots in the elections against the ruling party. After the protest march, the CYSA-Dhakuakhana unit sent an eight-point memorandum to the Chief Minister through an executive magistrate.