Ranchi, Dec. 25: It may be a coincidence that the RSS-backed organisations have upped the ante to delist Christian tribals from the ST list when Jharkhand is celebrating the birth centenary of Kartik Oraon.
Oraon, a long-time Congress leader and minister in the Indira Gandhi government, was the first tribal leader to raise such a demand and introduce “The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill on August 12, 1967. He had submitted a detailed memorandum signed by 235 members of the Lok Sabha in support of his demand to Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister, on June 17, 1970. However, she did not act on it.
53 years later, the Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM), a front of various tribal organisations, including RSS affiliate Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra (VKK), has intensified its battle to ‘delist’ tribals who have converted to other religions, such as Christianity and Islam, from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list.
First show of strength
Though the front had existed for over a year, it was the first show of strength in Ranchi on Sunday, where tribal leaders, including former union minister and tribal leader Karia Munda, impressed upon the tribals how those who have converted to Christianity have usurped their rights and privileges.
Earlier in November last year, the outfit handed over a memorandum addressed to President Droupadi Murmu to the then Governor Ramesh Bais seeking the delisting of tribal men and women and their successors who had converted to Christianity or Islam from the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category.
Strategy to blunt Sarna demand
Though it has been an old demand of the BJP and the RSS, which describe all tribals as “essentially Hindus”, the demand to delist is seen in the political circle as a strategy to blunt Chief Minister Hemant Soren’s fight for Sarna code to identify tribals officially.
Both these issues–delisting of Christians and the Sarna code- are set to add a new spin to Jharkhand politics during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Tribal votes assume critical significance in Jharkhand as 28 of the 81 assembly seats and five of the 14 Lok Sabha seats are reserved for Schedule Tribes (ST).
Church backs Sarna code: VHP
“The Church has backed the demand for Sarna code. The political parties, which bag Christian votes and thrive on funds from the Church, support such a demand,” said senior VHP leader Virendra Vimal. “They want to segregate the tribals from the Hindus and then convert them into Christians,” he added.
“Tribals are Hindus, and all come under the Hindu code. Demanding a separate code for tribal or Sarna is tampering with the spirit of the Constitution,” he said.
The BJP leaders point out that the Christian tribals are a mere 4.6 per cent of the total Adivasi population. “Still, they misguide and provoke the whole tribal population. They form the creamy layer and play a think tank of the tribal society. We have to expose them,” said a senior BJP leader.
He maintained that if they were convinced that these converted tribals were snatching away most of the benefits, they would support the party vouching to get their due rights.
CM Hemant Soren’s tribal push
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, on the other hand, has aggressively pursued a Sarna religious code for nature-worshipping tribals.
Soon after he came into power, the Jharkhand assembly passed a resolution in 2020 demanding the Sarna dharma code to be included in the census and submitted to the Centre via the state governor. The Centre has yet to take a call on the issue.
Pointing out that Jharkhand, as per the 2011 Census, accounted for more than 10 million of the country’s estimated 120 million tribal population, Soren also shot off a letter on September 26 last to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for the Sarna religious code to recognise a separate identity of the tribal community officially.
Soren’s tribal push is also not without some political spin. The tribal voters had backed the JMM-led alliance, facilitating it to win 26 out of 28 seats reserved for Adivasis in the 2019 assembly elections.
Double-edged sword for BJP
However, the issue of the Sarna code is a double-edged sword for the BJP, which neither endorses Soren’s view nor quickly dismisses the demand, as it cannot afford to be seen as blocking the recognition of Sarna as a separate religion.
“So, the Sangh Parivar outfits have been put on the job to oppose the Sarna code ploy and campaign for delisting the Christian tribals,” pointed out a BJP leader.
“Instead of opposing the Sarna code directly, we have to expose the Church conspiracy to snatch away the tribals from the Hindu fold and corner constitutional privileges for the creamy layer, i.e. converted tribals in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections,” he pointed out.
