Droupadi Murmu's election on Thursday gave the country its first President belonging to the Adivasi community.
The historic development, however, brought a ray of hope for the Santal community in Assam, who have been agitating for years for recognising them as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) like those in the rest of the country.
"By electing Droupadi Murmu as the first citizen, the NDA has definitely given huge respect to the Santal community. But in Assam, our identity is at stake and are deprived from any initiative to protect and promote our culture and language. The Santals in Assam have not yet been recognised as a Scheduled Tribe for protection of identity and culture. We hope that our demand for the ST status would fall into the ears of Murmu and the NDA government would now fulfill the same," Chaku Soren, general secretary of All Assam Santal Students' Union, told DH on Thursday soon after Murmu was elected as the 15th President of the country.
Santal and a few other Adivasi communities trace their roots in central Indian states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, from where they were brought by the British, mainly for cultivation of tea in Assam and other infrastructure development works. But they have not been recognised as STs like their forefathers and relatives in those states.
"The NDA government often talks about one nation, one policy. But they have not adopted the same policy when it comes to according ST status to us in Assam," Soren said, adding that Assam has nearly 14 lakh Santal population.
"The state government had constituted a group of ministers committee for recommendation to the Centre for the ST status. But nothing has happened. The political parties only make promises before every election but forgets thereafter," he said.
The ST status to six ethnic communities, Ahoms, Morans, Motok, Sootia, Koch Rajbongshi and the tea tribes was one of the major promises of the BJP before both Lok Sabha polls and the Assembly elections in Assam.
"We are against clubbing the Santals as a tea tribe community. How can a community be identified with their work? Not all Santals work in tea gardens and people from other communities also work in tea gardens. This is nothing but a ploy to deny us the ST status," Soren said.
The ST status would give reservations in government jobs, educational institutions and benefits of the schemes meant for the STs.
The ruling BJP in Assam on Thursday organised celebration programmes in tea garden areas and stated that by electing Murmu as the President, the NDA has given respect and recognition to the Adivasis. "Now let them fulfill the promise they made to the Santal and other communities in Assam," Soren said.