MARGAO
After the Centre cold shouldered the proposal to grant political reservations for the ST communities in Goa before 2026, the Mission for Political Reservations for the Scheduled Tribes is gearing up for the battle ahead.
The Mission has called for a meeting in Margao on September 2 to discuss the reply received from the legislative department, Ministry of Law and Justice, New Delhi on the proposal submitted by the Goa government on political reservations for the ST communities of Goa.
Sources pointed out that the meeting convened by President Joao Fernandes and Secretary Rupesh Velip will discuss and deliberate on the situation arising from the Centre’s stand and chalk out the future course of action.
That the Mission for political reservations have invited the Zilla Panchayat members, Municipal Councilors, Sarpanchas, Pancha members, members of the Managing committees of ST organizations, besides prominent members of the ST community, indicates that the stage is set to take the ongoing movement for political reservations for the Scheduled tribes to the logical conclusion.
In fact, the Mission Political reservation had warned after the Centre had cold shouldered the Goa government’s proposal for political reservations that the Scheduled tribes will not sit quite and watch the governments in the state and at the centre rejecting the popular demand of the ST communities.
Sources pointed out that the Mission is likely to chalk out the programme to take the awareness exercise to the nook and corners of the state, specially in the areas dominated by the tribal population and also reiterate its demand to boycott the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if the demand is not met before the polls.
Mission Executive Committee member and Rachol Sarpanch Joseph Vaz asserted that the centre cannot deny the political reservations for the tribal communities of Goa on the plea that it would be done after the 2026 census figures.
Joseph said the Ministry of Law and Justice vide notification dated March 6, 2020 had given political reservations to the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the state of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland by constituting the Delimitation commission for the purpose of delimitation of the Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies. “Why this hostile discrimination when it comes to giving political reservations for the tribal communities of Goa. We want justice and the tribal communities will not rest till justice is done,” Joseph warned.
