LRO writes to CM, demands withdrawal of amendment proposal
GUWAHATI: A legal rights organisation has shot off a letter asking the Meghalaya government to “immediately withdraw” the proposal to amend the Sixth Schedule in the state.
The Maharashtra-based Legal Rights Observatory (LRO) on Wednesday posted the letter on its Facebook page, terming move “controversial and a highly unrealistic, illogical and outrageous attempt to violate fundamental rights of Hindu tribes of Garo Hills such as Hajong, Koch, Rabha, Boro and Maan.”
“We won’t tolerate exclusion of minority Hindu tribes which are living there since hundreds of years and are original inhabitants of the region having natural rights to be in Sixth Schedule. The move will convert Hindu tribes into third-rate citizens,” the LRO letter addressed to the Meghalaya chief minister, read.
LRO stated in the letter that the majority of the Garos in the plain areas of Garo Hills including Tura, have either entered from Assam or Bangladesh post 1947 (many of them post-1971 war), “which means that as per Sixth Schedule provisions, they mustn’t enjoy 6th Schedule benefits.”
“But by vertically differentiating the Garo Hills population on the basis of race, tribe and religion, the government of Meghalaya is making a heinous attempt to enforce racist apartheid. And it won’t sustain constitutional scrutiny should anyone approach Supreme Court, even if you could successfully pass it by arm twisting the central government,” the letter read.
The organisation further stated in the letter that wholesale induction of all refugee Garos from Bangladesh and all migrant Garos from Assam in the Sixth Schedule and by deleting all Hindu tribes from Sixth Schedule was illogical, insulting historical facts and dishonoring Hindu tribals’ fundamental rights.
Besides, LRO pointed out that “if the Citizenship Amendment Bill becomes law, all Bangladeshi refugee Garos, Hajongs would become valid citizens of India barring infiltrating Muslims.”
“In that case which criteria your government is going to set for inclusion or exclusion of tribes from Sixth Schedule? Will the government of Meghalaya flatly exclude Hindu tribes from Sixth Schedule and include all Garos (including Bangladeshi and Assamese) in it? it asked.
“We will fight this conspiracy tooth and nail to safeguard interests of Garo Hills Hindu tribes,” it asserted.