Pointing at the anomalies in according Scheduled Tribes status to Koli/Kabbaliga community, the community leaders demanded that the Union government include all the sub-groups of the community that were recognised by different names in different places in Scheduled Tribes.
Addressing a media conference here on Sunday, Tippannappa Kamaknur, a senior community leader, said that only a few names of the community were included in the STs leaving the rest in the Other Backward Classes category.
“Our community is called by different names in different regions such as Koli, Kabbaliga, Besta, Mogaveera and Ambiga. All are the different names of the same community. However, some are in Scheduled Tribes category, while the others remain in Other Backward Classes category. Those in the Scheduled Castes list get better government facilities such as reservation and those in the Other Backward Classes list are deprived of them. I request the Union government to include all the names of the community in the Scheduled Tribes category,” he said.
When asked, Basavaraja Sappanagol, another leader of the community, said that the same community was included in the list of Scheduled Tribes in some States and Scheduled Castes in other States.
“President Ramanath Kovind belongs to our community and it is in Scheduled Castes category in Uttar Pradesh. It is a 30-year-old demand to include all the names representing the community in the Scheduled Tribes category. All the political parties in principle agree with our stand. But, nobody is ready to accept our demand. During elections, they assure us of meeting our demand and forget it after the polls. We don’t want their crocodile tears. We want action,” he said.
He demanded that the State government take a delegation to the Union government once again and convince the Centre of the need to resolve the issue.
