Meghalaya Garo Hills Council amends law to make ST certificates mandatory to contest polls

Guwahati: The Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) in Meghalaya on Monday passed a resolution making Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate mandatory for candidates to contest the polls for the council.

The resolution was adopted during a special session, days after two persons died in clashes between tribals and non-tribals over the issue.

Calling it a historic resolution, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said that it fulfilled a long demand by the tribals, which remained unfulfilled in the past 74-years.

"As the council was constituted to safeguard and offer autonomy to the tribals, the amendment would ensure that the Council is governed and administered by its own people. I hope non-tribals will understand and appreciate the decision," Sangma told a crowd of the ruling National People's Party (NPP) supporters at Tura, headquarters of the Garo Hills.

The council covers an area of 10,100 square kilometers covering five districts: East Garo Hills, West Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, North Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills.

It has population of nearly 14 lakh (2011 Census), majority of whom belong to Garo tribe. CM Sangma is also a Garo and hails from Garo Hills.

Although, GHADC was formed to safeguard the tribals, non-tribals were not barred from elections. Non-tribal populations, mainly Bengali-speaking Muslims, are dominant in five out of 30 constituencies of the council. There are two non-tribal members in the council at present.

The tribals allege that most of the Bengali-speaking Muslims are Bangladeshis and pose a threat to ethnic identity of the indigenous communities. They demanded that non-tribals be barred from contesting the council polls. This led the council to issue a notification making the ST certificate mandatory for contesting the polls. But this left the non-tribals angry.

Situation in Garo Hills turned tense on March 10, when non-tribals staged protests against the decision of the council ahead of the polls, scheduled on April 10. This followed violent clashes and arson leading to death of two persons and destruction of properties. The administration had to call the army, clamp curfew and suspend mobile internet to quell the tension.

The violence forced the state government to postpone the elections.