Hundreds of tribals, mostly Santhalis, from the States of Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and West Bengal staged a demonstration in Delhi on June 30 — the day that is observed as Hul Diwas to mark the Santhal Rebellion — in support of their demand for recognition of their religion as Sarna and inclusion of a separate Sarna code for their enumeration in the upcoming Census.
The demonstration was a “precursor” of things to come post July 18, the day the Presidential polls will be held. “The demand will gather strength and momentum thereafter” as the Adivasi community is confident of Draupadi Murmu’s victory.
Spearheaded by the Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan (ASA), an outfit led by former BJP MP from Mayurbhanj Salkhan Murmu, the community is keeping a vigilant eye on the Presidential elections instead of resorting to violent protests to prove its point. However, its scheduled campaigns across the country will go the usual way.
Soon after her name was announced as the NDA’s Presidential candidate, ASA president Salkhan had called on Draupadi Murmu at her Rairangpur residence in Odisha on June 22 to take up the Sarna cause.
Salkhan represented Mayurbhanj in Lok Sabha while Draupadi represented the Rairangpur Assembly constituency. The Assembly constituency falls under the Mayurbhanj parliamentary seat in Odisha.
Salkhan “apprised her how the poor tribals across the country were being denied their due constitutional rights”. He also presented a booklet published by his organization.
Since Draupadi Murmu’s victory at the Presidential elections appears to be imminent and the fact that she had earlier tried safeguarding tribal interests in the capacity of Jharkhand Governor and other positions she held, the ASA is hopeful that positive changes will start surfacing soon. Hence, it is now concentrating more on evoking mass consciousness for the Sarna code.
“Every Sunday, we hold a mass meeting from 8 AM to 9 AM in all the Santhal villages across Assam. Here, we haven’t been granted Scheduled Tribe status. On November 24, 2007, thousands of Santhals faced bullets and batons for demanding ST status. One of our daughters was stripped naked in public and thrashed. A separate Sarna code is very important to safeguard our religious and cultural identity,” ASA Assam unit vice president Sohan Hembrom told theindiantribal.com
For his part, organisation’s Odisha unit president Narendra Hembrom said that 300 Sarna Raths are already moving across the State to evoke mass consciousness. The campaigns would be intensified in the coming days.
“We have been raising the demand for a separate Sarna Code since 2011. Earlier, we also resorted to Chakka Jam (rail and road blockade) campaigns. We have regularly been petitioning all bigwigs. But, there has been no positive outcome as yet. However, we will never give up,” Narendra Hembrom stressed.
Why the need for a separate Sarna Code?
ASA president Salkhan Murmu argued that Sarna is a separate religion. “Its followers worship nature (jal, jungle, jameen). They cannot be equated with Hindus, Muslims, Christians or followers of any other religious faith. They ought to be empowered with a separate Code, which has already been granted to Jains, Sikhs and the likes, whose population is far less than the Sarnas,” he asserted.
“There is no authentic data base on the total population of the Sarna, apparently because there is no separate column for the Sarnas in the Census survey record. Still, during the 2011 census survey over 50 lakh people ‘separately’ mentioned that their religious faith is Sarna, which is much higher than the population of several other religious faiths that have been granted a separate code by the Constitution. One of our main demands is to include ‘recognition’ to Sarna in the 2021 Census survey report. As per our calculations, there are over 12 crore tribals in the country and 90 percent among them are Sarnas,” Salkhan said.
Replying to a question, he said no political party had the guts to reject the demand for a separate Sarna code but they all had their own constraints.
“The BJP is committed to strengthen the Hindu support base. The Congress, Left, JMM and the likes cannot afford going against the wishes of Christian and Muslim vote banks, apart from secular Hindus and the likes,” Murmu pointed out.
