Assam panchayat polls begin to take a violent turn

With six ethnic groups opposing holding of the panchayat elections...

With six ethnic groups opposing holding of the panchayat elections, until their demand for recognition as Scheduled Tribes was not fulfilled, the situation in Assam is gradually taking a violent turn.

Groups representing the Adivasis and Tea tribes have already announced a ban on entry of Congress leaders for campaign in areas inhabited by people of their community, which has provoked both sides to indulge in violence.

While election offices of the Congress has been burnt by agitating members of the Assam Tea Tribes Students’ Association (ATTSA) and All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA) in the tea growing districts of Upper Assam, one ATTSA leader was seriously wounded when Congress members allegedly attacked him near Sonari.

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Similar reports of assault on candidates and demolition of party campaign offices have also come from Golaghat, Tinsukia, Jorhat and Dibrugarh — all tea-growing districts where the Adivasis and other Tea tribes have a huge presence.

ATTSA volunteers have indulged in attempts to disrupt campaigns, particularly carried out by the ruling party, with the organisation holding the Congress responsible for non-inclusion of the Tea tribes and Adivasis in the ST list. “Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi is particularly responsible for our community not getting ST status,” Prahlad Goala, president of ATTSA, said.

The All Koch-Rajbangshi Students’ Union has announced that its volunteers would physically resist any attempt by the Congress to hold election campaigns in areas inhabited by members of the Koch-Rajbangshi community. “We will not allow the Congress to hold election campaigns in our areas,” said AKRSU leader Atul Roy.

Altogether six communities — Koch-Rajbangshi, Adivasi and Tea tribes, Tai-Ahom, Matak, Moran and Chutiya — have been agitating for inclusion in the ST list. Leading student bodies and other organisations representing these six ethnic groups have also formed an umbrella body called Janajati Aikya Mancha and called for a boycott of the panchayat elections. The Mancha has also called a 36-hour bandh beginning December 30.