Demand for ST status: State puts ball in the Centre’s court, Kudmis plan bigger stir
The Ghaghar Ghera Central Committee started with a bicycle rally on April 1 in support of its demands. Then the protesting community members blocked the National Highway-6 and railway tracks at the Kustaur station in Adra division, Khemasuli station in Kharagpur division and Kotshila station in Purulia for five consecutive days staring April 5.
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The community representatives said that the meeting did not turn out the way they were expecting it to be as the state government put the ball in the Centre's court, saying the decision lay with the federal government, and that they will soon decide their next course of action. (Express Photo) With a meeting between representatives of the Kudmi community and senior officials of the West Bengal government yielding no positive outcome on Tuesday, “unhappy” community leaders said they might launch an even bigger agitation in support of their demands like inclusion in the scheduled tribe (ST) list.
The community representatives said that the meeting did not turn out the way they were expecting it to be as the state government put the ball in the Centre’s court, saying the decision lay with the federal government, and that they will soon decide their next course of action.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Kudmi Samaj West Bengal president Rajesh Mahato said, “We met Chief Secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi who said that the state government has done everything it could and now it is up to the Centre to take a decision on the matter. We even proposed that the state government should form a committee to hold discussions with us and resolve the issue by doing the needful. The Chief Secretary, however, refused to form any committee.”
The Ghaghar Ghera Central Committee that the community members have formed to handle the agitation will now decide on taking the stir ahead. “The Centre had asked for some justification from the state which they haven’t submitted yet. It is pending since 2017. The Centre is blaming the state. The state says it passed a bill and there was nothing more it could do,” said another Kudmi Samaj leader.
The Ghaghar Ghera Central Committee started with a bicycle rally on April 1 in support of its demands. Then the protesting community members blocked the National Highway-6 and railway tracks at the Kustaur station in Adra division, Khemasuli station in Kharagpur division and Kotshila station in Purulia for five consecutive days staring April 5. The blockade had paralysed rail and road traffic in several parts of the state.
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