MORIGAON, March 21 � A special convention of the Tiwa Jatiya Oikya Mancha was held on Wednesday at the Morigaon District Library auditorium here. More than 1,000 delegates from different districts of Assam took part in the convention.
The open session of the convention was presided over by Dharma Sing Bordoloi, president, All Tiwa Students� Union (ATSU). Addressing the gathering, Tulshi Bordoloi, adviser, Autonomy Demand Struggling Forum said that the very existence of Tiwa ethnic group of Assam was threatened by the silent aggression of foreigners who illegally encroached the land in the tribal belts and blocks. Bordoloi appealed to all indigenous tribes of Assam to fight against the policy of the State Government for which the indigenous tribal people had to lose their land rights.
Speaking on the occasion, Rama Kanta Deori, former Chief Executive Member of the Tiwa Autonomous Council, vehemently criticised the State Government and its ministers for interfering in the affairs of the democratically- elected Tiwa Council during the last three years. Deori said that the Tiwa Jatiya Oikya Mancha would fight against the ruling Congress in the forthcoming election to the Tiwa Council to be held in the third week of May.
Referring to the definition of �Assamese�, Deori opposed the definition that all the Assamese speaking people are Assamese. He said that all indigenous tribal people of Assam may not speak Assamese, but they are the sons of the soil. A foreigner cannot be called an �Assamese� simply because he/she knows Assamese, he added.
Several student leaders of different indigenous communities like Bodo, Karbi and Koch Rajbongshi also took part in the convention.
