Santipur: Garo organisations have strongly opposed the inclusion of the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council area under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Representatives from many Garo organisations, including the Garo National Council (GNC), Garo Youth Council (GYC), Garo Women Council (GWC), Garo National Union (GNU), Garo National Women Union (GNWU), All Assam Garo Gaonburha Association (AAGGA), A’Chik Socialist Youth Front of India (ASYFI), Garo Mother’s Union (GMU) and several others participated in a meeting at Santipur village under the Chaygaon LAC on Wednesday.
Rabha organisations, including the All Rabha Students’ Union, Rabha Women Council and Sixth Schedule Demand Committee also organised protest rallies, meetings, and mass gatherings to demand inclusion in the RHAC area under the Sixth Schedule in Indian Constitution.
Meanwhile, regarding the matter of the protest of the Rabha bodies, MLA Durga Das Boro raised a question in the recent Assam State Assembly Session and the reply was given by the Assam state minister Ronuj Pegu that the cabinet sub-committee will submit the matter regarding the inclusion in Sixth Schedule within two months.
“We are taking Minister Ronuj Pegu’s statements seriously. Garo people have opposed the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council since the beginning and we never want to live under the RHAC area. But the state government wants the Sixth Schedule in the RHAC area. We have no problem if the government excludes us and our Garo-inhabited villages from the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council and then gives them the sixth schedule status,” said Arbitson Momin, President, GNC.
Arbitson Momin also said nearly three lakh people live in the RHAC area, more than the Rabha population. He also said the RHAC area includes 779 villages, where more than 450 revenue and non-revenue villages are Garo-inhabited villages.
Asking the reasons behind the exclusion from RHAC, Momin replied, “Our culture, religion, historic background, social customs and norms, and food habits are different from the Rabha tribes. The other important matter is that the RHAC only develops the Rabha people and their villages and not the Garo people and villages. So, if the government takes decisions without consideration, there can be trouble.”
During the meeting, more than one thousand Garo people and representatives from various Garo organisations from Kamrup and Goalpara districts took part. The Garo organisations also formed the Garo Autonomous Council Demand Committee (GACDC) in the same meeting. The sixteen-member committee is chaired by Behnur K Sangma and Brayana Marak is the secretary of the newly-formed committee.
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Behnur K Sangma, President, GACDC said, “We can not live with Rabha people or in the RHAC. Meghalaya has three different tribes and due to the lack of reconciliation, all three tribes have their own separate sixth-schedule autonomous council. So how can the Garo people living in Assam live under the RHAC? If we live in the RHAC under the Sixth Schedule status, the future generations of the Garo tribe will be in danger and we can never allow this to happen.”
“We will meet the Assam chief minister and the cabinet subcommittee on this matter and we will let them know that we want a separate Garo Autonomous Council before the RHAC gets Sixth Schedule status. We will also give them a memorandum about our problems and we are very sure that our chief minister will understand the matter”, added Behnur K Sangma.
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