The Goa Legislative Assembly has unanimously adopted a private member resolution to make provision for political reservation in the Assembly for members from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community in the state. The resolution was moved by Scheduled Tribes’ leader MLA Dr Ganesh Gaonkar, on Friday, July 21. The members of the ST community in Goa have been voicing their demand for political reservation for the last two decades. They had also said that they would boycott the 2024 Lok Sabha elections if reservation is not declared before polls, and had also held a daylong hunger strike at Lohia Maidan in May this year.
Opposition Parties supporting the move have also urged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to push it before the Union government. In his resolution, Gaonkar stated, "This House strongly recommends the Government to make provision for political reservation in the Goa Legislative Assembly for the Scheduled Tribes of Goa State. As per the census of 2011, Scheduled Tribes (ST) constitute 10.23% of Goa's population. This community deserves to be brought into the mainstream, needs support to make the community more educated as well as empowered and hence needs a larger political representation to achieve the same."
"I am very much thankful to all the members of Goa Legislative Assembly for unanimously supporting this resolution. I am sure that our Honorable CM Dr Pramod Sawant and the BJP government at the Centre will make it happen," Gaonkar said after the resolution was adopted.
He added that political reservation has been the main demand from the ST community for several years. 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.
Speaking about the resolution, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that letters in this regard have been sent to the Union government. "We are serious about giving reservation to the ST community. We will send a delegation to the Home Minister and Law Minister to give a representation in this regard," he said.
All the seven MLAs of Goa Opposition parties have also supported the resolution as the demand has been pending for the last 20 years. Stating that the members of ST community in the state threatened to boycott the upcoming elections, Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao said that the reservation should come into reality immediately. Extending his support, Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai said that there should be clear cut assurance that the reservation would be declared before the 2024 elections.
Congress MLA Carlos Ferreira, Revolutionary Goans Party MLA Viresh, and AAP MLA Venzy Viegas also supported the resolution. United under the banner of the 'Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribe of Goa' (MPRSTG), many ST youths have dedicated themselves to achieving the goal. Knowing the seriousness of the issue, many non-ST politicians have also supported the movement and have drawn the attention of the government by submitting memorandums in the past.
Speaking to IANS, MPRSTG president Joao Fernandes said that he welcomed the resolution moved by MLA Ganesh Gaonkar. "The ball is now in the court of the Union government, hence our government should take up the issue and make it happen before the 2024 Lok Sabha election," he said, and added that their demand is to get the political reservation before the Lok Sabha elections.
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 MPRSTG 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. The ST leaders had also held a daylong hunger strike at Lohia Maidan. Currently there are four ST MLAs in the Assembly, including Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar.