Rijiju may lose his ST status

Guwahati (Assam) 6 August 2018

Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) MP, Biswajit Daimary, said Union Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, might lose his ST status.

“Kiren Rijiju is an ST and his religion is Buddhist. Buddhists are minorities. So, if he has any issues, he can file petitions in the ST Commission as well as the Minorities Commission. If he is viewed as a minority by the government based on his religion, he will lose his ST status,” Daimary said.

“Similarly, if a person belongs to an ST community, poor and a Christian, he can move an ST Commission, Minorities Commission and the National Commission for Backward Class if he has any issues. So, when such a person will file a petition in the three Commissions, which Commission will give judgement? If their judgement differs from one another, what will be the solution? After I raised this, the House was unanimous that this has to have a solution,” Daimary said.

The Constitutional Amendment Bill on National Commission for Backward Class was passed on Monday. Daimary said this Commission is for people who are socially, economically and educationally backward.

“This Commission will look into the various issues of backward people on the implementation of government schemes and petitions on land rights, disputes, torture etc. I supported this but, at the same time, I said the constitution of a Commission is not enough. It should be functional in true sense of the term. There are SC Commission, ST Commission and Minority Commission. These Commissions regularly submit reports to the government but they are not followed up. If action based on their reports are not taken, what is the use of having the Commissions? They don’t have full-fledged staff. I insisted that the Commissions should be given adequate manpower,” the BPF MP added.