Why Mising Autonomous Council is in the news again?

The publications of draft delimitation of constituencies in Mising Autonomous Council in Dhemaji district of Assam have invited sharp reaction among various communities. The main contention of the “non-Mising “ communities is that some of their villages have been included in Mising Autonomous Council boundary without their knowledge and consent. Therefore, few non-Mising communities have demanded the exclusion of the villages from the MAC . The MAC election is due in few months. The delimitation exercise is being carried out before the polls.

Press statement by MAC

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Member , Paramananda Chayengiia, who laso heads the Mising apex body called the Mising Bane Kebang (Grand Mising Assembly), have clarified through the media the process of inclusion of villages of non-Mising are based on the contiguity of revenue village according to the principle of Assam land and revenue laws. According to this principle, revenue village are not created on the basis of communities. It is natural that a single community or a tribe doesn’t exist in revenue village in most of the cases. It has to do with demarcation based on geographical contiguity.

The MAC has included revue villages that have Mising inhabitants that were excluded in 2013 and 2019 elections. To ensure inclusiveness and participation of MIsing people the draft delimitation has included Mising inhabited villages which have non-Mising inhabitants as well. This have led reactions and misunderstanding among the non-Mising population. The Mising organizations like the Takam Msing Porin Kebang (TMPK) have expressed that protests against the draft delimitation is a conspiracy by the opposition political parties to divide the people. The MAC chief said the choice of participate in the autonomous council election by the non-Mising inhabitants will remain independent. The inclusion is done, particularly for the Mising inhabitants to ensure the welfare activities of the MAC reaches previously excluded people. 

It is also said that if the people are not happy over such inclusion of revenue villaes in Mising Autonomous Council (MAC), the aggrieved people can approach the Dheamji district administration as the process of delimitation is in the draft stage. 

The Mising Autonomous Council is an autonomous institution created under state act of Assam. The state government has constituted a cabinet sub-committee to study the demands regarding constitutional status. A cabinet sub-committee headed by Ranoj Pegu is currently undertaking the study. Ranoj Pegu, who is a former Mising nationalist leader, currently is an education minister and also holds the charge Welfare for Plains Tribes and Backward Classes under Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government. 

The Mising politicians, who once led the movement for Sixth Schedule, is currently being co-opted by the Bharaitiya Janata Part-led government of Assam. During the assembly session of August, 2024, Ranoj Pegu while answering to a query by a legislator regarding the matter of Sixth Schedule, he mentioned that only Rabha Hasong autonomous council has a contiguous boundary at present whereas Mising, Deori, Sonowal Kachari autonomous council does not have such such contiguity of boundary that is required for district council based autonomy under Sixth Schedule. The Mising supporters of BJP-led government in Assam have announced recently in public meetings across Mising areas in the months of August and September, 2024 that MAC would be accorded “constitutional status” before the 2026 state assembly polls. However, it is not clear regarding the precise nature of “constitutional status” whether it would be within the Sixth Schedule or outside these provisions of the Indian constitution.