ST status approval rests with Centre: Debabrata Saikia questions Assam cabinet's move

The Assam cabinet’s recent decision to approve a report recommending Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for six communities has sparked political reactions, with Leader of the Opposition in the Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, asserting that the authority to grant ST status rests solely with the Central Government.

Saikia stated that the issue has been under national-level review for decades. “In 1996, an all-party committee visited Assam and engaged with every stakeholder — those demanding ST status and those opposing it. Their final assessment supported granting ST status not only to these six communities but also to the Hajong and Singpho communities,” he said.

He added that the committee had even devised a framework ensuring that the rights and reservations of existing Scheduled Tribes would not be compromised. “It was considered a very good solution,” Saikia recalled.

The senior Congress leader further pointed out that in 1998, then Congress President Sitaram Kesri and other leaders introduced private member bills in Parliament to push the proposal forward. However, the bills were rejected.

“When the Congress formed the government in Assam in 2001, two separate resolutions were passed again to support ST status for all six communities,” Saikia said, stressing that the matter has a long history of bipartisan initiatives that were not taken up for approval at the Centre.