AJP calls ST status process ‘election gimmick’, flags interim report

Guwahati, Dec 9: The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has alleged that the State government is misleading the public over the demand for granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six communities, claiming that the recently tabled report of the Group of Ministers is only an interim document with “no immediate prospect” of ST status.

AJP leader Chittaranjan Basumatary said discussions and celebrations that erupted across the State after the report was placed in the Assembly on November 29 were based on a misconception.

“Firecrackers, processions, even milk being poured on the Chief Minister’s pictures – all these happened as if the gazette notification had been issued and ST status granted. But nothing of that sort has happened,” he said.

According to the regional party, the reality is that the process has been restarted instead of being completed. The party said that earlier procedures were left midway and a new process has been initiated just months before the 2026 Assembly elections.

Basumatary said the government’s lack of clarity became evident after the December 4 meeting between the Group of Ministers and the Coordination Committee of the Tribal Organizations of Assam (CCTOA). He argued that while both existing ST communities and those seeking ST status agree that no group should be harmed, the government has complicated the situation instead of resolving it.

The AJP highlighted two key concerns. First, the report tabled in the Assembly is an interim report, not a final one, indicating that ST status for the six communities remains a distant possibility. Second, the government has now decided to begin consultations with tribal organizations, hold talks at the Chief Minister level, and later with Union Home Minister Amit Shah – a process the party says should have been completed years earlier.

The AJP questioned whether any meaningful outcome can emerge from such hurried consultations before the polls. It noted that despite five years of time, the government had not held these discussions until now.

Drawing parallels with 2019, the AJP accused the BJP of repeating an “election-season pattern”. In 2016, the BJP promised ST status in its Vision Document, and the Centre formed the Mahesh Kumar Singla-headed Modalities Committee on February 29, 2016 to recommend procedures. The committee was supposed to submit its report by May 2016 but did nothing until 2019, prompting widespread protests before the Lok Sabha elections.

Basumatary argued that this showed the government had rushed the process to placate public anger ahead of elections. “That time the people were misled. This time again the same tactic is being used,” he said.