Guess how come the issue of political reservations for the Scheduled Tribes communities has suddenly taken the centre stage when the three tribal communities comprising of Velips, Gawdas and Kunbis were bestowed the tribal status two decades ago in 2003 and as many as four Assembly elections have been held for the Goa Legislative Assembly since then.
Uprising by Mission Political Reservation
Well, attribute the ongoing movement to the Young Turks in the community or simply to the new breed of tribal leaders, they seemed to have all come together under the banner of Mission Political Reservation for the Scheduled Tribes with the one point agenda “ to push for political reservations for the tribal community envisaged under the Indian Constitution.
Launched on Goa Revolution Day on June 18 last year at Quepem, considered the heartland of the ST community, the Mission Political Reservation community, has succeeded in bringing the issue to the centre stage in a year’s time, drawing the attention of the State and Central authorities to the injustice meted out to the tribal communities, so much so that no political party can ill afford to ignore or neglect the long-pending demand of the tribes, more so the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, since the tribal community has been the party’s voter base over the years.
If ST leaders under the banner of United Tribal Alliance Association (UTAA) headed by Prakash Velip, Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar, Minister Govind Gaude, MLA Ganesh Gaonkar, former MLA Meng Gaonkar and others launched a movement over a decade ago to press for the 12-point Charter of Demands, including demand for political reservations for the tribal communities, the Mission Political Reservation is led by ST leaders comprising of Adv Joao Fernandes, Rupesh Velip, Rama Kankonkar, Joseph Vaz, Joycee Dias, Govind Shirodkar and others.
Says Adv Joao Fernandes, President of Mission for Political Reservation: “The issue of political reservations for the tribal communities has been dragging on for the last two decades without any solution in sight. Political reservation is not a new demand raised by the ST communities, since it was one of the main demands when the tribals hit the streets under UTAA banner in the year 2011. Goa has seen four Assembly elections since the time the three tribal communities were bestowed the ST status in 2003, but somehow the tribals had to go without political reservations for reasons best known to the powers that be.”
He added: “Our one-point agenda is simple, give political reservations for the STs as envisaged under the Constitution. Hence, we decided to launch the movement under the banner of the Mission Political Reservation for the ST communities.”
The much-needed push
Joao and other tribal leaders spearheading the Mission Political Reservation have realised that the movement has managed to bring the issue to the centrestage. “It’s not that the issue was not taken up by the ST leaders over the years, but somehow we all felt the issue was put on a backburner. Hence, we all decided to come together and give a push for the movement,” Joao said.
After knocking the doors of all and sundry, including Union Law Minister Arjun Meghwal, Chairman of Parliamentary Committee on SC/ST, Kirit Solanki, besides Goa leaders Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Union Minister Shripad Naik and others, the Centre’s stand that the political reservations will not materialise before 2026 might have come as a setback to the movement.
Unfazed & firm in its demand
The Mission Political Reservation, however, appears unfazed and firm in its demand that the Centre should concede its demand for reservations before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls or face election boycott by the tribal population.
With the tribal communities spread across both the Lok Sabha constituencies, with concentration of tribal population across Sanguem, Quepem and Canacona talukas, besides parts of Salcete and Mormugao talukas, in South Goa constituency, the Mission has sounded the bugle to intensify the agitation ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, seen as a game plan to mount pressure on the ruling BJP to fulfill the popular demand of the tribals before the coming Lok Sabha poll.
