Thousand tea labourers demonstrate for ST Status

Guwahati, Apr 09 (UNI) Cumulative frustration and anger of the tea labour community burst open today as about 15000 protesters mustered strong at a massive rally here in support of their demand for ST status.

Cutting across party lines, the protesters gave vent to their resentment over the constant 'neglect' and 'deprivation' meted out to them in the rally jointly organised by the Assam Tea Tribes Students' Association (ATTSA), All Adivashi Students' Association (AASA) and Assam Chah Majdoor Sangh (ACMS) at the Judges' Field.

BJP leader Kamakhya Tasa said, '' the tea tribes and adivashis have been subject to persistent neglect from the government.'' ''If the government can give land pattas to illegal Bangladeshis, then why not to the tea tribes and adivashis. The government bureaucrats are conspiring to deprive the tea tribals of their dues,'' Mr Tasa, who hails from the tea tribe, said.

AASA president Justin Lakra rued that the tribals were still being referred to as 'migrants', 'collies' and 'foreigners'. ''I challenge Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi to define the term Assamese. We are very much under the Indian Constitution, but the government is intending to create divides among the citizens,'' he fired.

Besides, the demonstrators demanded rehabilitation of Adivashi refugees of Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon of lower Asom, provincialisation of primary schools in the tea and Adivashi areas, allotment of sufficient funds for tea tribes' welfare and amendment of the Asom Tea Plantation Act, 1951.

The AASA leader even threatened to boycott the political parties in the Adivashi-dominated areas in the ensuing panchayat elections if the government failed to fulfill their demands by then.

Turning the heat on the government, Senior Congress leader Pawan Singh Ghatowar said the rally 'is the beginning'. ''We will go to the district and village levels to garner support for our genuine demands,'' he added.

There had been a growing resentment among the tea tribals and Adivashis - who are mostly migrants of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and constitute about 22 per cent of the total population of the state - over denial of tribal status to the community.

UNI