By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Joint Action Committee (JAC) have decided to go ahead with the proposed hunger strike near the Main Secretariat on Tuesday from 10 am to 5 pm to press for the demand to scrap the scheduled tribe (ST) status granted to the Marngar community of Ri-Bhoi district.
The JAC comprising Khasi Students’ Union, Federation of Khasi, Jaiñtia and Garo People, Ri-Bhoi Youth Federation, Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) and Confederation of Ri Bhoi People (CORP) has recently given a one-week deadline to the State Government to revoke the notification declaring Marngar as ST.
JAC spokesman and FKJGP working president Joe Marwein on Sunday said that they have decided to go ahead with the proposed hunger strike on Tuesday.
When asked whether they have received any invitation from the Government for a dialogue, Marwein said that so far there is no invitation from the Government.
“This is our first phase of agitation. If the state government turns a deaf ear to our demand then we would further intensify our agitation,” Marwein said.
According to the JAC, the Marngar who originally belong to Bhong community are not Khasis since they do not speak Khasi and their culture and tradition are different from the Khasi or the Bhoi people.
Last year, after a spate of agitations by Ri-Bhoi based NGOs, the Government withdrew the ST status granted to the Bhong community of Raid Marngar.
However, on September 26 last year the state government issued another notification and recognized the Bhongs as a ST community in Meghalaya.
It may be noted that the issue came to the forefront when scheduled tribe certificates were issued by Ri-Bhoi district deputy commissioner’s office to the Marngar community in a function which was attended by former Chief Minister D D Lapang.
Lapang had distributed the ST certificates to the Marngar community on the occasion.
According to Lapang, the Marngar community was recognized as scheduled tribe after being duly approved by the departments of political, law and social welfare respectively.