GUWAHATI, May 30 � The leaders of the Coordination Committee of the Tribal Organisations of Assam said in a joint statement here recently that none of the existing Scheduled Tribe (ST) groups of the State would accept any decision detrimental to their interest on the issue of according ST status to the six ethnic groups of the State.
The leaders of the Coordination Committee demanded that the Government should not accord ST (Plains) status to the six ethnic groups. Rather, they said the Government should seal the ST (Plains) list of the State and accord some other suitable status to the six ethnic groups to ensure their all-round development and constitutional safeguards.
The Coordination Committee, which submitted memorandums to Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Sarbananda Sonowal on the issue between May 18 and 22, expressed its astonishment as to what led the pro-talk faction of ULFA to raise the issue of according ST status to the six ethnic groups of the State as its main demand.
This exposes the approach of the pro-talk faction of ULFA to sign an agreement for the sake of an agreement by giving up their main demand for the sovereign status of Assam, said the Coordination Committee and it argued that if the six ethnic groups are accorded the ST status, it would affect the interest of the existing ST groups severely in matters of reservation of jobs, Assembly seats etc.
Moreover, the existing tribal autonomous councils and tribal belts and blocks will also be affected by such a decision, it said, as, there are some ethnic groups among the six ethnic groups which are much advanced in comparison to the existing ST groups, in all spheres.
