Ranchi
This Sarhul, the demand for a separate Sarna Religion Code for adivasis will be reiterated but sans the threat of a poll boycott like last year, when the echoes of “Sarna Code Nahin, Toh Vote Nahin” (No Sarna Code, No Vote) resonated throughout the festivities.
Tribal outfits, their leaders pointed out, have realised ‘boycotting’ the elections would not serve their purpose. Instead, the proponents of the movement have decided to either field their own candidates in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections or back winnable candidates who could strongly raise the issue in the Parliament.
Sarhul will be celebrated on April 11 this year. And the demand for a separate Sarna Religion Code will be an important theme of Sarhul celebrations.
“During the dance celebrations on the streets the followers of Sarna Dharma will be carrying banners and placards to air their demands. But, at the same time, we are carefully working on who to vote for during the upcoming elections. Let a clear picture of who all will be in the fray emerge first. We will be supporting the ones who will fetch us our Sarna Code,” Adivasi Jan Parishad president Prem Shahi Munda told The Indian Tribal.
Jharkhand, which has 14 Lok Sabha seats with five of them being reserved for Scheduled Tribes, is scheduled to have polling in four phases, starting May 13 and ending June 1. The Lok Sabha has 47 seats reserved for the STs.
The tribal outfits in Jharkhand have begun hunting for such potential candidates who would honestly champion their cause
Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan convenor and former MP Salkhan Murmu, who has been on the forefront on the Sarna Religion Code movement, is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Jamshedpur. His active participation during electioneering appears doubtful at the moment because of his ailing health.
But, sources close to him said, he has categorically conveyed that no good can be expected from either the BJP or the JMM even as Union Tribal Affairs Minister and senior BJP leader continued his party’s tribal outreach as he interacted with tea garden labourers and held a public meeting in Darjeeling on Sunday (April 7). Munda stressed that strengthening the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the need of the hour and Modi is committed to work for tribal welfare.
JMM general secretary and party’s spokesman Supriyo Bhattacharya, however, reminded that it was his party-led government in the State that got the Sarna Code Bill passed by the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha and sent it to the Rashtrapati Bhavan for approval. The ball is now in the Centre’s court, he said.
For his part, veteran tribal leader and Jharkhand People’s Party (JPP) president Surya Singh Besra is out to try his luck from the Jhargram Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal. Besra is a Jharkhand statehood movement activist and has strongly been advocating the strict implementation of the Sarna Religion Code, PESA, tenancy laws and such other rules and regulations across the country safeguarding tribal interests.
He was elected to the Bihar Vidhan Sabha from Ghatshila (presently in Jharkhand) in 1990 and quit his assembly membership after the then Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav declared that a separate Jharkhand state could only be formed over his dead body.
“I came here in search of a suitable candidate to contest the Jhargram Lok Sabha seat. But, people compelled me to jump into the fray. Boycotting elections is no solution. We first need to prove our point in the Lok Sabha and various Vidhan Sabhas. The tribals are based all over the country. Their real might cannot be ignored,” Besra asserted.
The JPP will also be fielding its candidate on the Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha seat and nine assembly seats in Odisha. Besides, it aims at supporting such potential candidates in other areas who can give a “befitting reply to the BJP in particular during the ensuing elections”.
