PANAJI
Notwithstanding Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s assurance to fulfill the demand of the scheduled tribes for political reservation by 2027, the ST community on Thursday is adamant to boycott the 2024 Lok Sabha election if their long-pending demand is not fulfilled prior to the parliamentary polls.
The members of 14 Scheduled Tribe organizations along with elected Sarpanchas, panchas and Zilla Panchayat members resolved to put their foot down over reservation in the Goa Legislative Assembly. The meeting was called to discuss the CM's assurance made on the floor of the House last month.
“The Scheduled Tribes of Goa will boycott the Loksabha elections in 2024 if notification to reserve the seats in the Goa Assembly is not issued before the parliamentary polls. We will also begin awareness drives in the villages with ST population on the issue,” Rupesh Velip of the Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes of Goa said.
The association’s attorney, Ravindra Velip stated that the Election Commission of India (ECI), being a Constitutional body, has absolute powers to reserve seats for ST, while citing that one seat for SC was reserved more than three decades ago.
The Mission further pointed out the 2011 Balli agitation wherein tribal activists Dilip Velip and Manguesh Gaonkar “sacrificed their lives” demanding political reservation.
“Some political leaders who led the agitation became Ministers, MLAs and Speaker; however the demands went under the carpet post elections. It has been 11 years that the community is waiting for these demands to be fulfilled. We cannot wait another four years,” Velip slammed, apprehending that the CM's assurance could be lost if BJP loses the parliamentary polls.
