Opposition to participation of non-tribals in GHADC polls
From CK Nayak
New Delhi: Former Lok Sabha Speaker and one of the tallest tribal leaders in the country, Purno Agitok Sangma, on Wednesday made a passionate appeal to the Garos not to oppose participation of non-tribals in the forthcoming Garo Hills Autonomous District Council elections for the sake of socio-ethnic harmony in the hill state.
Speaking to The Shillong Times here, Sangma said that out of 300 contesting candidates only three non-tribals (one from NPP and two from Congress) are contesting in this delayed polls. Even in the best case scenario only a minuscule number can make it to the 30-member House.
Even in the 60-member Meghalaya State Assembly five seats are open where mostly non-tribals contest and win, Sangma said. All states in the North East have few open seats where normally non-tribals contest and win, he pointed out.
If one goes further at the national level in Parliament, seats are reserved for tribals far more compared to their numbers, the former Speaker said.
The Constitution of India gives much more to the tribals besides reservation in comparison to their number to maintain communal and ethnic harmony, he said.
Apart from all these, Garos constitute a sizable population in other North Eastern states and neighbouring Bangladesh, the NPP supremo said. One of such Garos became an MP and was a Minister in the central cabinet in Dhaka, he added.
Digging into history, Sangma said that Meghalaya could take birth only after the North Eastern Areas Reorganization Bill, 1971 was passed by Parliament with the full initiative of leaders like Capt. Williamson A Sangma and B.B. Lyngdoh. The Bill could be passed because the legendary leaders assured the then mainstream politicians that ethnic harmony would be maintained and non-tribals will remain protected in the new hill state, he said.
Moreover, the ADCs are creation of the Sixth Schedule to the Constriction and there is no provision for reserving all seats for tribals, Sangma, himself a former member of the Constitution Review Committee of the previous NDA Government, said.
In no case one can stop a voter from any community or class from exercising his or her franchise, he added.
Sangma said that there is a proposal to increase the number of seats in all ADCs including in GHADC from 30 to 40. “Maybe that time a decision can be taken to reserve most seats for tribals,” he suggested.
“Now if we go back and do not allow non-tribals to exercise their democratic universal adult franchise it will be travesty of history and offense to our beloved leaders,” he said. And if any one knocks the doors of the court the whole election process which is already delayed might be scrapped, he feared.
“If today the Garos refuse to leave even three seats in the 30-member GHADC and oppose non-tribal participation in the election, it will send a wrong signal to the rest of the country,” a pensive Sangma said, adding, that this will have an effect on the Garos living in neighbouring Assam, Mizoram, other North Eastern states and Bangladesh.
Sangma appealed all the NGOs and civic societies to allow peaceful conduct of the GHADC elections. “Otherwise besides unnecessary ethnic tension the whole poll process might be grounded leaving no scope to develop the already undeveloped Garo Hills,” the veteran politician added.