Leaders say issue will influence community voting pattern
ST leaders, including Minister Ramesh Tawadkar and MLAs, hand over a memorandum to BJP President Damu Naik on the issue of ST political reservations.
MARGAO
Ruling BJP scheduled tribe leaders upped the ante in support of the demand for political reservations for the ST community before the upcoming Assembly elections.
A delegation of ST leaders, including Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar, Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, BJP MLA Govind Gaude, Independent MLA Anton Vas, former MLAs Prakash Velip and Vasu Meng Gaonkar, called on BJP State President Damu Naik on Wednesday and handed over a memorandum requesting ST Assembly reservation before the upcoming elections.
The memorandum stated that even though the ST community makes up a large part of Goa's population, they do not have reserved seats in the Goa Legislative Assembly. “This is a right guaranteed to us by the Constitution of India, and it has been delayed for too long,” the memorandum stated.
Stating that the ST community is asking for political reservation in the Goa Assembly under Article 332 of the Constitution, the ST leaders pressed for urgency in view of the upcoming Assembly elections. “Our community wants to see real action, not just promises. This issue will heavily decide how our community votes,” the memorandum said, adding, “We need a clear and fast decision on this matter from the party leadership.”
Seeking Damu’s intervention in the matter and help to get the ST reservation approved for the upcoming elections, the delegation cautioned: “If the party does not take concrete action on this request very soon, our delegation will move to the next step and meet with the Union Home Minister in New Delhi to resolve this issue.”
The BJP State President gave a patient hearing to the ST delegation, saying that he and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant were scheduled to call on Union Home Minister Amit Shah during their recent visit to Delhi. “We will seek an appointment with the Union Home Minister this month to discuss the issue,” he said.
Minister Ramesh Tawadkar told the media that the ST political reservation issue has been pending for the last four months even though the President had given assent to the law passed in Parliament.
“We have come to meet Damu since he is the head of the party. We will also call on Chief Minister Pramod Sawant since he is the head of the government. Our only request to the CM and party president is to fix an appointment with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the earliest and resolve the issue,” he said.
Asserting that the ST leadership is united on the question of political reservations, Tawadkar underscored the need to bring the ST communities into the political mainstream after remaining backward over the years.
