Atasu demands ST status

New Delhi, March 23 : Members of the All Tai Ahom Students’ on (ATASU) on Wednesday staged a protest at Jantar Mantar here, demanding the Centre to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Ahom comm ty in Assam. “We have come here to press for our demand of ST status be granted to the Ahom comm ty. For 34 years, we have been demanding the same. But our legitimate demand is yet to be fulfilled,” said Milan Burhagohain, Joint Secretary of Atasu, as its members raised slogans with bodies half bared and warned of an all-naked protest on Delhi streets next time. He accused the previous Congress government and the incumbent BJP in Assam of not paying attention. “Earlier Congress governments only held discussions on this issue. This is the same situation in the BJP regime,” Burhagohain claimed. He also threatened that if their demand was not fulfilled, then they would intensify their protest. “If our demand is not fulfilled then we will be compelled to do a naked protest,” Burhagohain said. DS ING