GUWAHATI: The United Garo Autonomous Council Movement Committee (UGACMC) has decided to boycott the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) elections in protest against the inclusion of the Garo-dominated villages in the council.
The council made the decision on Wednesday in the wake of the recent notification of the polls scheduled without the exclusion of the Garo villages from the council.
“We have decided to boycott the polls as our demand for exclusion of the Garo-dominated villages from the council and creation of a separate autonomous council for the community has not been paid heed to yet again,” UGACMC chairman, Alex K. Sangma, told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
The community has been demanding a separate council since it was accorded Scheduled Tribe status in the plain districts of Assam in 2003.
The state election commission had recently announced that elections to RHAC and two other councils, Sonowal Kachari Autonomous Council and Mising Autonomous Council, will be held on January 21.
There are 36 constituencies under RHAC, of which nine are unreserved, two for women in unreserved category and three seats for women in the ST category. Altogether, the council has 779 revenue villages.
“In the core area of Goalpara and Kamrup districts, we have 668 Garo-dominated villages which have not seen the light of development for several years now, be it roads, bridges, et al. There has been improper utilisation of allocated funds, which in itself are insufficient for implementation of schemes in the Garo areas,” Sangma said.
“This imbalance and backwardness can only be redressed by a Garo Autonomous Council where Garos can set up and determine their own development goals and fulfill their cultural, traditional and linguistic aspirations,” he said.
The Garo community is the second largest ethnic tribe after the Bodo community in Assam.
The UGACMC chairman further said the election in RHAC without the exclusion of Garo villages would never be acceptable to the Garo community enrolled unwillingly in the RHAC.
“We had boycotted the polls since 2003 and the stand would continue till the Garo villages aren’t excluded from RHAC and a separate Garo Autonomous Council (on satellite basis) across Assam created,” he asserted.