Committed to giving political reservation to ST by 2027: Goa CM

Panaji: Alleging that agitation demanding political reservation forSchedule Tribe Community is politically motivated, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that his government was committed to fulfilling the demand by 2027.

Sawant was speaking in a programme to commemorate Bhagwan Birsa Munda on his birth anniversary.

“My government is 100 per cent positive about tribal reservation. We have done correspondence with the concerned department. We will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah at earliest in this regard and definitely in 2027 we will get tribal reservation,” Sawant said.

Sawant alleged that some are trying to pollute the environment. “It has become a political tool for some… Those who never contributed for the tribal people and never gave any scheme are raising voices. I would say rather they have done injustice to the tribal community,” he said, adding it is the BJP government which has given justice to the tribal community.

He said that during the Atal Bihari Vajapyayee government three tribes were included in ST. “Also former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar designed many schemes for the tribal and today we are implementing them fully,” he said.

It is to be noted that many ST communities were in the OBC category since 1968, but during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003, Gawada, Kunabi and Velip (three tribes) were declared as Scheduled Tribes by the Goa government.

“We are committed to give political reservation to the tribal community," Sawant said.

In the past ST community took out rallies and tried to draw the attention of the government. According to them, there are around 1.30 lakh ST voters in Goa and hence, they should be given political reservation.

In May, the ST community members held a meeting at Lohia Maidan in Margao and resolved to boycott the Lok Sabha election in 2024 if their demand for political reservation was not conceded by the government.

Opposition parties have criticised the BJP government over the issue alleging ‘double engines’ have failed.