Assam: For the past 80 years, six communities in Assam have been caught in a ping-pong game between the center and the state, and recently, a third player has also joined the game. The demand for the inclusion of six indigenous communities of Assam – Moran, Matak, Chutia, Tai-Ahom, and Koch-Rajbongshi – in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list is aimed at protecting their socio-political, economic, and land rights.
In 1908, Assamese leader Manik Chandra Barua was elected for the first time to the Eastern Bengal and Assam Council of British India. In his maiden speech, Barua highlighted the adverse effects on Assam following the partition of Bengal, stating, “We are reminded of the early days of British rule, when our best interests were sacrificed.” He further stated that the partition had “damaged Assam the most” and warned that “both the Ahoms and Assamese Hindus are in grave danger of being ousted from all government and industrial jobs by the people of Bengal.” Unless special measures were taken, he feared that the Assamese people and their language were “in grave danger of extinction.” These fears continue to haunt the Assamese community even today.
C.S. Mullan, in his 1931 census report, recorded over half a million immigrants in Assam and warned that this immigration could “permanently alter” the future of the state, predicting that “in the next thirty years, the Sibsagar district will be the only part of Assam where an Assamese will feel at home.” Later, Assam witnessed the historic Assam Movement from 1979 to 1985, which resulted in the Assam Accord. Forty years have passed, yet the key provisions of the accord have been implemented unsatisfactorily. The All Assam Ahom Association (Sadow Assam Ahom Sabha), a 132-year-old organization founded in 1893 by literary figure Padmanath Gohain Barua with the support of Panindranath Gogoi (the creator of the first Assamese primer) and philanthropist Radhakanta Handique, works to protect the socio-political rights of the Tai-Ahom people. On May 18, 1941, a resolution was passed at the Kenduguri conference of the Ahom Sabha. On July 2, 1941, a memorandum, “The Ahom People as a Minority,” was published, circulated throughout India, and submitted to the British government. On November 20, 1943, the late Surendra Nath Buragohain, MLA and leader of the Ahom Sabha, moved the following resolution in the Assam Legislative Assembly: “This Assembly is of the opinion that the Ahom community of this province should be included among the recognized minorities in the future Indian Constitution and requests the Government of Assam, the Government of India, and His Majesty’s Government to consider and recognize this community as such a minority.” However, this resolution was not passed.
After the Treaty of Yandabo, the British gradually reduced the Ahom people to illiterate and landless peasants. The 1911 census revealed that only 73 out of 1,000 Ahom people had received more than five years of education in Assamese and English; the literacy rates of other Assamese communities were as follows: Ganaka/Baidya (654), Brahmin (375), Kayastha (413), Kalita (95), and Sudra (103). The undivided Sibsagar district, which was considered a so-called Ahom-majority district, had a population in the 1941 census of 1,81,278 Ahom people; 5,93,007 Caste Hindu Assamese; 2,59,508 tea garden laborers; and 51,769 Muslims. And other tribes and castes (Kachari, Deuri, Miri, Mikir, Naga, Buddhist, etc.) were recorded as 2,56,110.
On August 7, 1967, the All Assam Ahom Sabha submitted a 22-page memorandum to the Union Home Minister demanding a separate autonomous unit comprising the Lakhimpur and Sibsagar districts of Upper Assam. The memorandum stated: “The All Assam Ahom Association fully supports the Central Government’s federal scheme for Assam in the interest of peace, security and good neighborly relations between the hill and plain people and demands an autonomous unit comprising the Upper Assam districts irrespective of the demands of the hill people.” The Tai-Ahom Coordination Committee had submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister in August 1997 for the inclusion of Tai-Ahom in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list. In June 2005, the Ahom Sabha approached the Chief Minister to take necessary steps for this inclusion. While the Tai-Ahom were excluded, other tribes of Tai origin in Assam – Tai-Khamyang, Tai-Khamti, Tai-Phake, Tai-Aiton, Tai-Turung – were declared STs under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 (Notification No. S.R.O. 510 dated 06/09/1950 and Government of Assam Notification No. Ex/Misc./15N.49/89 dated 12/10/1950). Since 2014, the Ahom Sabha has been in talks with the state government regarding the ST issue.
Scheduled Tribes are notified under Article 342 of the Constitution of India. On June 15, 1999 (amended on June 25, 2002), the Government of India approved the modalities for deciding claims for inclusion and other modifications in the ST list. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) reviewed the suggestions sent by the office of the Registrar General of India (RGI).
