GOALPARA, Jan 15 � Extending his moral support and solidarity with the demands of the people living in the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council area, AASU adviser and NESO president Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya while addressing the mammoth mass rally organised by the Rabha Hasong Joint Movement Committee (RHJMC) held at the Dudhnoi public playground said that the problems of Rabha Hajongs is not confined or linked to RHAC or to this specific area but rather it is a problem of the whole State and the Assamese society at large.
Referring to the delimitation process of RHAC he emphatically appealed to a section of particular people who are demanding the exclusion of their villages from the designated areas to side with the indigenous people rather than with the illegal Bangladeshis.
In a well-articulated speech he urged the gathering to jointly fight peacefully and democratically for their constitutional rights and appealed to the candidates in the RHAC areas not to take part in the coming panchayat elections and left them to their conscience to choose �between the people and the Chair.�
He rebuked the Congress-led government for depriving the rights of these indigenous people and questioned as to what was the reason that kept them away from holding the council elections in the RHAC areas since the last 17 years and also alleged that the Government is also using all these tribal people as votebanks like the Bangladeshis by pitting communities against communities by using the same, divide and rule policy. He said that since majority of the people in the RHAC areas want council elections instead of the panchayat polls, the Government should bow down and respect their will since there is no room for forcefully going against the will of the people in a democratic country like India.
Meanwhile, president, All Bodo Students� Union Promod Boro in his fiercy and emotionally-charged speech said that out of 27 accords, except the Mizo Accord not a single accord has been implemented in its entirety. Castigating the Congress-led Government for lacking genuine intentions for preserving distinct cultural identity, security of their lives and land rights of the indigenous people he said that nothing is given on a platter to the indigenous people of the State but they had to fight at every step for their rights with government which always tries to stall demands by terming it as a law-and-order problem and reprimanded the Government for their alleged misutilisation of funds earmarked for different councils and demanded early council elections for the greater development of the people living in the RHAC areas.
Conveying the support of the Bodo people to demands of RHJMC he said that RHAC must be upgraded to the 6th Schedule status in order to close �the entry gate of the Bangladeshis� who have been encroaching the lands under TSP and the tribal blocks and urged the gathering not to rest but to fight till the end is achieved and called upon all the political parties not to field any candidates and boycott the polls..Many other leaders also spoke on the occasion. Among others, the RHJMC also demanded that the 2014 Lok Sabha elections be held on the basis of updated National Register of Citizens 1951.
