Assam CM ‘stoking conflict’ between communities, says Gaurav Gogoi after report on ST status for six groups

Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi on Sunday (November 30, 2025) accused Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of stoking conflict between the six communities that demand Scheduled Tribe status and the existing Scheduled Tribe (ST) groups of the State. He claimed that the report submitted by the government in the State Assembly on Saturday (November 29) on the demand for ST status was unable to convince that the rights of the existing ST communities would remain intact.

A Group of Ministers (GoM) submitted its report in the Assembly on Saturday (November 29)on the demand for ST status by six communities—Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Matak, Koch-Rajbongshi and Tea Tribes (adivasis). If these communities are granted ST status, they will come under reservation in education and jobs.

Mr. Gogoi, the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, said in a post on X that the “Congress has supported the claim that six indigenous communities of the State must be declared as ST without affecting the rights and privileges of the existing ST groups”.

An Assembly resolution to this end was passed during the last Congress government, he said, referring to a motion adopted under his father and Assam’s three-time and longest serving Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s administration.

Students protest

On the GoM’s report tabled in the Assembly, Mr. Gogoi said, “Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while bringing a report to grant category-wise ST status, has been unable to show that the rights of the existing ST communities remain intact.” Students from the Bodoland University in Guwahati on Saturday (November 29) stormed the assembly hall of the BTC Secretariat and vandalised property during their protest against the Assam Cabinet’s approval of the report. Bodos are one of the largest ST communities in Assam.

“As an indigenous community, we want the best for our tribal brothers and sisters. But it seems that Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is stoking another conflict between 6 indigenous communities and the scheduled tribes of Assam,” the Congress leader claimed.

He alleged that this was typical ‘divide and rule’ politics as practised by the British during the colonial era.

“People of Assam are fed up with this politics and will not wait for too long. We want to live in harmony as a strong united Bor Axom (greater Assam),” Mr. Gogoi asserted.

ST categories

The GoM report has recommended a three-tier classification of STs in the State so that the demand for ST status of the above-mentioned six communities can be met without affecting the reservation for the existing tribal groups.

In addition to the existing ST (Plains) and ST (Hills) categories, it has proposed the formation of a new category of ‘ST (Valley)’, and the inclusion of Ahom, Chutia, Tea Tribes, and Kock-Rajbongshi (excluding undivided Goalpara) communities in it.

For Moran, Matak and Kock-Rajbongshi (Goalpara) communities, it said they can be included in the ST (Plains) category, and the existing communities in this category ‘do not have much opposition’.

The report said that dialogue must continue with all stakeholders for a ‘conclusive solution’, and the final nod has to be given by Parliament through a Constitutional amendment.