The United Garo AutonomousCouncil Movement Committee (UGACMC) has called for 48-hour Assam bandh fromTuesday demanding a separate autonomous council for the Garos living in Assam.
The bandh will remaineffective from 5 am on January 28. The bandh was announced by the UGACMC duringa press conference on Monday.
UGACMC reiterated its demand for the creation of a separate autonomous council for the Garos in Assam on the day when another agreement was signed with the NDFB, ABSU and a united Bodo group on Monday. The United Garo Autonomous Council Movement Committee (UGACMC) said the Garos, being one of the most deprived indigenous tribes of Assam, have been demanding the creation of a separate autonomous council on satellite basis since 2003.
"The Garo people of Assamhave been receiving a step-motherly treatment since 1972 by the successivegovernments of Assam," said chairman Alex K Sangma and general secretaryThengsil Sangma of UGACMC.
The Garo leaders said: "TheGaros are one of the major tribes of Assam with a relatively higher populationthan the population of the recently created Kamatapur Autonomous Council andMotak Moran Autonomous Council."
"However, the creation ofKamatapur and Motak-Moran Autonomous Council paved the way for creation of aseparate Garo Autonomous Council on satellite basis for a relatively largerpopulation and larger number of villages of the Garos in order to do justice tothe social, cultural and economic aspirations of one of the most deprivedtribes of Assam," they said.
The UGACMC said a separateGaro Autonomous Council be created prior to the grant of Sixth Schedule statusto the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) for settling the long-pendingissue of the Garos of Assam in an amicable manner.
Calling for Assam bandh on Tuesday, the UGACMC leaders threatened to intensify their stir over the creation of a separate Garo Autonomous Council in near future.
"If the Assam government is not responsive towards the cause of the Garos of Assam within 96 hours from the time of the end of the bandh on January 3, 2020, then we would be compelled to call for an indefinite economic blockade in Assam," the UGACMC leaders said.