SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Dec. 26: With the Lok Sabha elections a few months away, the BJP and the RSS affiliates have revived their old demand of delisting the Christian tribals from the list of Scheduled Tribes (STs), an issue first raised in 1967 by Kartik Oraon, three-term Congress MP from Lohardaga and a minister in the Indira Gandhi government.
They have gone on an overdrive to tell tribals that they were pursuing an agenda unsuccessfully set by an iconic tribal leader and that too from the Congress camp.
Using the centenary celebrations of the veteran Congress leader to their advantage, the BJP and the RSS affiliates are planning to hold a series of programmes to remember the Congress stalwart.
“Besides his contribution to the tribal society, the issue once raised by Kartik Oraon suits the BJP strategy to wean away the tribals from the clutches of the Church,” said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity.
The Congress, ironically, has not held a single programme in Oraon‘s birth centenary year to celebrate his legacy, prompting BJP state president and former chief minister Babulal Marandi to take a dig, saying the Congress does not see beyond the ‘Gandhi family’.
“The BJP is trying to give due place to all those leaders who contributed to the building of our nation, but the Congress forgot them,” said Marandi.
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“Kartik Oraon’s vision must serve as guiding principles for those who work for the tribal cause. His battle for the rights of the tribal people who still adhere to their ancestral faith has remained unfinished, which needs to be carried forward,” Marandi asserted.
Who was Kartik Oraon?
He was born in Karounda Littatoli village in Gumla district on October 29, 1924. After completing high school in Gumla in 1942, he passed the Intermediate examination from Science College, Patna, and completed a bachelor of engineering from Bihar College of Engineering, Patna.
After that, he moved to England and completed further studies in engineering at the Royal College of Science and Technology, Glasgow and Battersea College of Technology, London University. He also studied Bar-at-Law at the Lincoln’s Inn, London.
Oraon returned to India in 1961 and took over the post of Superintendent Construction Designer at HEC.
He entered into political life in 1962 at the instance of Jawaharlal Nehru and contested the Lok Sabha election from Lohardaga, a constituency reserved for the scheduled tribes. Though he lost his first election, he opened a crucial debate on how the identity of the Scheduled Tribe should be defined and who should avail the Constitutional benefits reserved for them.
He was elected from Lohardaga in 1967 and introduced a private member bill, i.e. “The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, on August 12, 1967.
The Bill was referred to the Joint Committee of Houses on March 26, 1968. The Joint Committee recommended the amendments to the Parliament on November 15, 1969. However, the concerned minister expressed his difficulties in accepting the proposed amendment. After that, the bill was dumped.
BJP embracing a stalwart from rival camp
Analysts say the BJP, with such a move, is aiming to kill two birds with one stone—first, to blunt the JMM-Congress’ Sarna code card and second, to check the conversion of tribals to Christianity and regain the support of the tribal community.
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).
The Christian tribals in Jharkhand are around 4.6 per cent of the total tribal population, but they play a think tank for the tribal community.
No wonder the JMM-Congress alliance bagged 26 out of 28 seats reserved for tribals.
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The BJP hopes to recalibrate Oraon’s vast following in his community by projecting Kartik Oraon as an iconic tribal leader who raised his voice strongly against religious conversion, an issue espoused by the saffron camp.
According to a BJP leader, the party badly needed a leader from the so-called secular camp to drive home the point that the JMM-Congress is not a well-wisher of tribals; instead, they play into the hands of the Church, and their policy promotes the religious conversion of the tribals.
In fact, “Bis Varsh Ki Kali Raat”, a book by Kartik Oraon, has come in handy for the BJP to tell people how the Christian tribals cornered all the plum posts in the government and politics during 1950-1970.
Vikas Bharti keeps Oraon’s legacy alive since 1988
Padma Shri Ashok Bhagat, secretary of an NGO, Vikas Bharti, which has kept the legacy of Kartik Oraon alive, says that the Oraon community considered Kartik Baba a ‘God’. “He was a visionary, scholar and social reformer, but did not get the recognition he deserved because he opposed the Church lobby,” Bhagat pointed out and added that a Padma award will be a great tribute to him in his centenary birth year.
Vikas Bharti, an NGO based in Bishunpur in Gumla, holds a yearly cycle race and a mela to honour his memory. It has also got his statue installed at Raidih in Gumla, a Christian-dominated area.
