PNS vehemently opposes ST status to tea community

KOKRAJHAR, Dec 15: The Purbanchal Nagarik Samiti (PNS) has opposed the demand for ST status by the tea workers who are the migrant labourers from other States and urged the parties in power at the Centre and the State not to sacrifice the long term stability, peace and prosperity of the State for immediate electoral gains by further fragmentation of the greater Asomiya society.A meeting of the PNS held recently in Dibrugarh with JC Baruah, president of the Samity on the chair, adopted resolutions against according ST to the tea garden communities. The meeting opined that the industrial workers were brought to Asom during British rule from different parts of India and comprised of people of diverse languages and culture and could by no stretch of imagination be classified as a tribe as is being projected by some of the leaders now. These workers from diverse linguist and cultural backgrounds migrated to Asom from regions as diverse as Madras, Andhra Pradesh, Nagpur, UP Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal under the Assam Labour and Emigration Act, 1901, later replaced by the Tea District Emigrant Labour Act, 1932. They were initially migrated for three years with the option to stay longer. As per statistics of the controller of migration labour till 1947, a total of 4,92,749 adults and 4,73,308 children came to serve primarily the British planters in Asom and out of them only 21,047 were repatriated to their home states in the same year.But, owing to the pressure exerted by several Asomiya political leaders belonging to both the Congress and the left parties, the Asom Government brought in legislation aimed at improving the status of the tea workers and measures were taken to bring them at par with the rest of the State’s population.The PNS stated that there was no dearth of sympathy for the condition of the industrial workers among the Asomiya people in general and this was reflected in the legislative protection given to them in the years following independence and as expected the gradual assimilation of this section of people in the broader Asomiya national spectrum was taking place. The meeting noted with concern that this understanding and amity between the Asomiya people and the industrial workers who were in the process of becoming a part of the greater Asomiya nationality was now being sought to be disrupted by a section of self seeking leaders among the latter who seem to be bent on deriving immediate political gains at the cost of the overall integrity and collective growth of the State. The meeting also strongly opined that the demand for ST status could not be met by the Central and State Government on the ground that these people were completely a heterogenous lot and could not be defined as one homogenous tribe.The Samity stated that the placing of industrial labour force within the ambit of Sixth Schedule of the Constitution would adversely affect the indigenous people of the State and would contribute towards further deterioration in the socio-political and economic balance between the Asomiya peasantry and the tea industrial workers who were presently in the process of integrating themselves with the national mainstream. Hence the demand for ST states by the tea workers at par with the demand for same by the Ahoms, Morans, Mottocks and Chutias was unrealistic, the meeting held. It also said the tea industry was employing 5.90 lakh workers with another 8.6 lakh resident dependent and not 70 lakh as claimed by a section of tea garden leaders. The PNS also urged the Asom Jatiyo Mahasabha and Senior Citizens’ Council, Guwahati to hold a State-level convention for a collective opinion against any further fragmentation of the State in the near future.