MARGAO: A large number of State-level Scheduled Tribes organisations met at Margao on Sunday, and resolved to unite to push forward their common demand for political reservation for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) of Goa.
Repesh Velip, general secretary of Mission Political Reservation said that all the attendees of the meeting held at Ravindra Bhavan –representatives from NGOs, intellectuals and prominent ST leaders – want the government to fulfil their demands before the end of 2023.
“In 2003, we got the status but 20 years have passed and we are yet to get political reservation that is our right as per the Constitution of India,” he said.
He added that a 30-member parliamentary committee is visiting Goa soon and they hope to make a representation to this committee as well.
Other leaders criticised the BJP leadership for displaying double standards when it came to carrying out delimitation exercises. “In Goa, the State government is always coming up with excuses to delay this, but in other states like Jammu and Kashmir, the processes have already begun,” said Rama Kankonkar.
Kankonkar further added that in the past, the Goa government would try to blame the Centre, but now, the Central and State government are both run by the BJP and so there should not be any further excuses.
They added that they had already petitioned the Election Commission of India about the reservation issue.
The leaders also deliberated upon other issues affecting the tribal community in the State such as unemployment, non-utilisation of funds, absence of a tribal sub-plan etc and added that even though they form a significant chunk of Goa’s population, their grievances have remained unaddressed.
