Team Herald
MARGAO: The group Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Goa (MPRSTG), Gakuved Federation along with 14 ST organisations will be observing the 12th death anniversary of Dilip Velip and Manguesh Gaonkar on May 25, at Lohia Maidan Margao to honour the two martyrs who lost their lives in the infamous Balli agitation.
While the senior leaders from the community will sit for a hunger strike in the morning, later on, members of Scheduled Tribe (ST) community including women, community leaders from across Goa will assemble at the venue to pay tribute to the two late tribal leaders.
It may be recalled that these groups have also been holding corner meetings across the State wherein they have reiterated their demand that political reservations be done in the Assembly for the ST community as per the constitution and before the LS elections.
The hunger strike will be followed by a ‘Chitan & Manthan’ program wherein the intellectuals from the community will shed light on the present status of the constitutional rights of the community.
“Remember that after recognising Gawda, Kunbi and Velip as ST Communities of Goa in 2003, an alliance was formed in 2004 to fulfil the constitutional obligations. Since then, various agitations and protests were held, including the infamous Balli agitation. The agitation under the alliance should have been intensified post May 25, 2011, when we lost our two youths,” said Adv John Fernandes, President of the MPRSTG.
“However, suddenly the alliance leaders restrained themselves from taking forward the agenda of the alliance and as a result we have not seen any protests or agitations or lobbying with the government after the Assembly elections of 2012. The leaders who were leading the agitation then are now enjoying power under the present government,” he alleged.
