GUWAHATI: The United Garo Autonomous Council Movement Committee (UGACMC), a conglomeration of Garo organisations in Assam, on Thursday threatened to boycott the panchayat and the Lok Sabha elections if the state government fails to give a written assurance for the creation of an autonomous council for the community.
Members of the UGACMC staged a dharna in front of the Goalpara deputy commissioner’s office on Thursday, raising slogans for the creation of a Garo Autonomous Council in Assam under core and satellite area system. Over 7,500 people took part in the protest.
“Ever since the attainment of the status of Scheduled Tribe in 2003, the Garos have submitted several memorandas to the government of Assam for exclusion of the Garo villages from the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC). Ten years later, a Garo delegation met the chief minister with the memorandum demanding Garo Autonomous Council under core and satellite area system by excluding all the Garo villages of Kamrup and Goalpara districts from the RHAC,” a statement issued by the committee later, said.
“Only fulfilling the demand of a separate Garo Autonomous Council in Assam can address the aspirations of the Garo community in Assam where they covet to preserve their unique culture, tradition and language. Besides, for the holistic development of this region, it is imperative on the part of the government of Assam to take cognizance of the matter and acknowledge this right of the Garos and take necessary initiatives,” it said.
The statement further said that the Garos are one of the indigenous tribes of Northeast and therefore must be given freedom to assert and determine the universally accepted principle of right to political self determination.
“The Garos must have a separate autonomous council of its own within the framework of the Indian Constitution for shaping their own destiny in respect of political, socio-cultural ethnicity, education,” it added.