Four years have passed since that historic handshake — and the Adivasi community in Assam is still waiting.
On September 15, the Adivasi Welfare and Development Council gathered at the Public High School playground in Kachugaon to mark its fourth Accord Day — a reminder of the peace settlement signed on the same date back in 2022. The mood was part celebration, part frustration. People came together with flowers and flags, but the speeches made one thing unmistakably clear: the community’s most critical demand, Scheduled Tribe status, remains stuck in the pipeline.
The 2022 accord was a landmark moment. Signed between the Centre, the Assam government, and five formerly armed Adivasi organisations, it ended years of conflict and opened the door for the Adivasi community’s long-overdue integration into the mainstream of rights and recognition. The Adivasi Welfare and Development Council was itself born out of that settlement, created specifically to oversee community welfare and push for implementation.
But implementation has been slow. Too slow, according to council Vice-Chief Subhash Tirkey.
“Granting tribal status to the Adivasis in Assam is a key provision of the accord. Along with the other provisions, we want this provision to be implemented at the earliest,” Tirkey said at the gathering. There was nothing ambiguous about his tone. The community isn’t asking for favours — they’re asking for what was agreed upon.
Granting Scheduled Tribe status would be transformational. It would open doors to reservations in education and government jobs, legal protections over land, and a formal acknowledgment of a community identity that has been historically sidelined. The tea garden workers and forest-dwelling Adivasi families of Assam have lived on the margins for generations — descendants of laborers brought in during British rule, never quite fitting into any existing category of recognition. The accord promised to change that. The question now is when.
Bodoland Territorial Council Chief Hagrama Mohilary, who attended the programme as the chief guest, acknowledged the urgency. He stated clearly that the Adivasi community must receive equal opportunities for development alongside other communities in Assam. He went further, committing that Adivasi people in the BTC region would be given land rights on par with those enjoyed by other tribal communities — a statement that drew attention in a region where land tenure has long been a source of anxiety and dispossession.
Mohilary also pledged that the BTC government would work to pressure authorities for faster implementation of the accord’s provisions. Words from a BTC chief carry weight in this region, and the commitment — if followed through — could add meaningful political muscle to the community’s demands.
The day began with a flag hoisting and a solemn tribute to martyrs, those who lost their lives during years of unrest before the peace agreement was reached. It’s worth pausing on that. These weren’t just symbolic gestures. For communities that paid that kind of price to arrive at a negotiating table, every year of delayed implementation is a year that feels like betrayal.
Senior MLAs Rupam Chandra Roy, Rabiram Narzary, and Sabharam Brahma were present, as were Council Chief Durga Hasda and other executive members, signaling that the political establishment is at least watching — even if it isn’t yet fully acting.
Four years is long enough to test anyone’s patience. The Adivasi community signed a peace accord in good faith. They disbanded armed wings, joined the political process, and trusted institutions to deliver. Now, on their fourth Accord Day, they’re still standing in a playground in Kachugaon, asking for what was promised.
That promise has a deadline — and it’s already overdue.
