Only 3 of 5 Koch Rajbongshi candidates back tribal status demand in Bongaigaon

Bongaigaon, April 3: Only three of the five Koch Rajbongshi candidates in Bongaigaon district have included their community’s demand for tribal status among their agenda for the April 9 Assembly polls.

Girish Barua, the Congress nominee for the Bongaigaon seat, and Bhupen Ray, the NDA-supported BJP contender for the Abhayapuri constituency, have assured the Koch Rajbongshi electors of taking up the community’s tribal status demand in the State Assembly if they win their respective seats, said AKRSU’s (All Koch Rajbongshi Students’ Union’s) Bongaigaon district unit president Sanjib Koch.

Diptimayee Choudhury, NDA-backed AGP candidate for the Bongaigaon seat, has not made any clear comment yet on the issue of tribal status for the Koch Rajbongshi community.

“Diptimayee Choudhury has no sincerity towards the ST issue of the Koch Rajbongshis. That is why she has failed to make any clear comment on the issue and this attitude has discouraged the electors of the community from supporting her,” Koch alleged.

When contacted, Badreswar Barman, an Independent candidate from the Srijagram seat, said that since the demand for tribal status is the due right of the Koch Rajbongshis, he has included the issue in his poll agenda.

Bhupen Ray (BJP) is the only Koch Rajbongshi nominee among the four candidates contesting the Abhayapuri seat, which comprises around 65,000 voters of the community.

Bhadreswar Barman (Ind) is the lone Koch Rajbongshi contender among the five candidates in the Srijangram seat. The number of voters of the community in this seat is around 22,000.

However, in the Bongaigaon seat, three of the six nominees are from the Koch Rajbongshi community. This seat includes around 82,000 voters of the community.