The Twipra Students Federation (TSF) on Wednesday staged a major demonstration in Agartala, demanding immediate action from the state government to fill long-pending backlog vacancies reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates across various government departments.
Hundreds of TSF members and supporters assembled near the Circuit House area from late morning and continued their protest into the afternoon, raising slogans and calling for a Special Recruitment Drive to address what they described as years of neglect in implementing reservation policies. The demonstration drew significant public attention and caused temporary traffic disruptions in the surrounding areas.
Addressing the media during the protest, TSF Vice President John Debbarma said the organisation’s primary demand is the filling of backlog reserved posts through a dedicated recruitment initiative. He argued that the prolonged vacancy of these positions has deprived eligible SC and ST candidates of employment opportunities and undermined their representation in public services.
“Filling these backlog reserved vacancies through a Special Recruitment Drive is our constitutional right and our main demand,” Debbarma said, emphasizing that the federation is not seeking new provisions but rather the effective implementation of existing reservation norms and constitutional safeguards.
TSF leaders alleged that despite repeated appeals and representations over the years, successive efforts to draw attention to the issue have failed to produce meaningful results. According to the organisation, the continued non-filling of reserved posts has weakened opportunities for marginalized communities and diluted the objectives of affirmative action policies.
The federation further maintained that addressing backlog vacancies is essential not only for employment generation but also for ensuring social justice and equitable representation within government institutions. Protesters asserted that reservation policies must be implemented in both letter and spirit to uphold constitutional commitments toward disadvantaged communities.
Following the demonstration, TSF representatives announced plans to submit memorandums to Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, the Directorate of Kokborok and Other Minority Languages, and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), urging immediate administrative intervention.
The student body warned that if concrete steps are not taken soon, it will intensify its democratic movement through larger protests and public campaigns aimed at securing the recruitment drive and ensuring the timely filling of all backlog reserved vacancies.
