Dimapur, May 26 (MExN): The Nagaland Garo Tribal Council (NGTC), an apex tribal body representing the Garo tribe of Nagaland, have expressed their ‘displeasure and resentment’ at not being invited at the consultative meeting on documentation of Naga traditional attires and motifs held on May 23 at the Capital Convention Centre, Kohima.
A press release from Cliff Sangma, Joint Secretary, NGTC stated that all the tribal hohos (recognised tribes) and stake holders of Nagaland were invited to the consultative meeting except the Garos.
It is very disheartening and painful that, the Garo tribe being one of the recognised indigenous tribes of Nagaland and also one of the stakeholders in the district of Dimapur was not invited in such an important state level meeting, he said.
Sangma added that the NGTC had also sent a reminder letter to the concerned Commissioner and Secretary to include their name in the list of invitees on date May 19, a copy of which was also mailed to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and to their constituency MLA. “But it was very sad and shocking to learn that our prayer was not heard,” he said.
Sangma alleged that “our leaders chose to attend the meeting uninvited in-spite of that fact, thinking of some positive outcome, but we were surprised only to face more embarrassment. All the sitting arrangements were done according to the tribe wise, where our tribe’s were not allotted any sit. Such kind of treatment really hurts our sentiment.”
Besides that Sangma claimed that, “our names are not found in many government websites and portals, which is unacceptable and a kind of step motherly treatment given to us.” He mentioned that the Garo tribe is no doubt a minority tribe, and one of the most backward tribes in the state. “We don’t have any representative of our own to voice our grievances but there is no minority and majority in the eyes God, being a Christian state we believe that the Lord almighty will give sense of wisdom to our leaders to love one another and live equally in a true Christian spirit,” he added.
The press release also mentioned that, the Garos of Nagaland have been living in Dimapur since “time immemorial.” It mentioned that several Garo villages are still in existence in Dimapur even today while the community has settled across the state as well. Besides these, it was made known that the Garo tribe were given the status of a recognised tribe on 1970 by the State Government.
Government departments and other allied agencies of the State Government began to question our Indigenous and Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and some government officials even went to the extent of questioning our existence in the state of Nagaland and pretended to be ignorant about our settlement and existence, the press release regreted.
Nevertheless, they noted that, though a small tribe they will continue to stand for their rights and future generations.
