PANJIM: The Scheduled Tribes (ST) leaders on Sunday called off their hunger strike, but resolved to adopt multiple strategies to cause electoral damage to the ruling BJP government in the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) elections, if the Centre fails to issue notification to reserve four seats for the community in the Goa Legislative Assembly before the code of conduct is announced.
It may be recalled that the ST leaders had started their chain hunger strike at Azad Maidan, Panjim on March 6, demanding political reservation in Goa Legislative Assembly.
Addressing the meeting at Azad Maidan, ST leader Rupesh Velip announced that the tribal leaders have decided that they will now visit more than 300 ST villages and convene panchayat (Maand) in every village to create awareness on how ST community has been cheated and denied constitutional rights by State and Central Governments.
He said, “It has been resolved that if the current central government fails to issue notification to reserve four seats for STs in Goa Assembly before announcement of code of conduct for Lok-Sabha elections 2024, they will adopt multiple strategies to cause electoral damage to the ruling BJP government for both North Goa and South Goa seats.”
He said, “The bill proposed by the government is a long process and we have already conveyed to the government that it is not acceptable to us. The government had promised to appoint a Delimitation Commission, but it did not fulfil its promise. Now it is clear that the government has always cheated us and cheated us this time too.”
He hit out at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for stating that the hunger strike was led by immature leaders.
“We are not immature. We have got support of people who belong to various political parties,” he said.
Tribal leader Rama Kankonkar said, “The demand for the notification for the reservation is not new. We have been demanding this for many years. It is the BJP government which delayed everything. The BJP government should be asked why they took so much time in informing the Central leadership about the issue. As they have consumed time so they are responsible for everything.”
“We will cause an electoral difference this time. Many of our affiliates are already politically active. We will make an analysis of booths and then move ahead,” he said.
The hunger strike gained substantial support from ST communities across the State. North Goa MP and Union Minister Shripad Yesso Naik visited the tribal leaders to pacify them. The tribal leaders were also visited by opposition parties.
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the draft of the ‘Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes Bill 2024’, which aimed to provide political reservation to the STs in Goa.
However, the ST community and its associations opposed the draft bill terming it as an election tactic and a dilution of a simple legal process.
