MARGAO
In a significant development, tribal leaders on Sunday revived the United Tribals Associations Alliance (UTAA) under the leadership of Prakash Velip to intensify the long-drawn struggle to demand political reservations for the tribal communities in the 2027 Assembly election.
The meeting held at Covla was attended by prominent ST leaders, including Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar, Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, former Ministers Govind Gaude and Prakash Velip, MLA Anton Vas, leaders of Mission political reservations for the Scheduled tribes, President John Fernandes and Govind Shirodkar, besides others.
What’s further interesting to note is that a message has gone out from the meeting that tribal communities will not keep quite till the law passed by Parliament on political reservations is implemented in the 2027 election.
Shirodkar issued a warning to the government not to test the patience of the ST community. “We want to convey a clear message to the government don’t test the patience of the tribal communities. Around 10 months have passed since the President of India had given assent to the Bill”, he said.
In his message to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Shirodkar said the time has come for the government to act fast and implement the law on ST political reservations. “If elections are scheduled in December, the election process will start in two months from now. You will then say the code of conduct has come. Hence, we request the government to take a decision at the earliest”, he demanded, saying the government should not force the tribals to intensify the agitation.
Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Ganesh Gaonkar, who clarified that he is attending the meeting as MLA, literally questioned the delay in implementing the ST reservation law.
“The notification on ST political reservation has still not come though it will be one year in September that the Bill had received the President’s assent”, he said.
Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar said all ST leaders have decided to sink their differences on Prerna Day for the welfare and betterment of the tribal communities.
Former Minister Govind Gaude said the tribal communities have never snatched the rights of other communities, but have been demanding what is provided for them under the Constitution. Saying that UTAA had launched the movement to secure their rights over the years, Gaude urged the ST youth to shoulder the responsibility to take the movement forward in their interest and future.
In his message, UTAA Chief Prakash Velip cautioned the government not to force the tribal communities to come on the streets again. “We are only asking what is provided for the tribals under the constitution. Goa is the only state where there is no political reservation for the ST communities”, he lamented.
UTAA resolves internal dispute
The United Tribal Associations Alliance (UTAA) has resolved the internal dispute between its former Executive Committee and the complainant associations through mutual understanding and consensus, according to a statement issued after the meeting.
The statement said all leaders of ST community have agreed to work together to strengthen the Alliance and safeguard the collective interests of the tribal community.
To ensure the smooth functioning of the Alliance until a duly elected Executive Committee is constituted, the meeting constituted an interim Working Committee comprising of President Prakash Shankar Velip; Vice-President Govind Shirodkar; Vice-President: Adv. Joao (John) Fernandes; Secretary: Vishwas Gaude; Joint Secretary: Shrikant Gaonkar; Convenor: Ravindra Velip and Co-Convenor Namdev Fatarpekar.
