Ranchi/Medininagar (Jharkhand), May 27 (PTI) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leaders and workers on Tuesday staged demonstrations at district collectorates across the state, seeking recognition of the Sarna religious code.
The party leaders warned that the JMM would not allow the Census to happen in the state if the Sarna religious code was not included in the seventh column of the upcoming exercise.
They claimed that there are columns for people of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist faiths in the Census but no separate column for the tribal people, despite having a sizeable population in the country.
In state capital Ranchi, party workers gathered near the Raj Bhawan and marched towards the district collectorate at Kutchery.
JMM central general secretary Vinod Kumar Pandey, who was leading the agitation here, alleged that the BJP did not want to implement the Sarna religious code, which has been a long-pending demand of the tribals.
He said that the Jharkhand Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution seeking the inclusion of Sarna as a separate religion in the Census in 2020 and sent it to the Centre.
“It has been nearly five years but it still remains pending. It is unfortunate that the central government has not taken any initiative in this regard. But the JMM workers have resolved that until the Sarna religious code is recognised, they will not allow the Census to happen,” Pandey said.
Similar agitations were held in different parts of the state, including Sahebganj, Deoghar, Giridih, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Khunti.
However, BJP president and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Babulal Marandi, accused the Congress and the JMM of misleading people in the name of Sarna religious code.
“Protecting the Sarna religion and culture is more important than the Sarna Code. If Congress and JMM are concerned about Sarna tribals, they should not do half-hearted work,” Marandi said while addressing reporters here.
Citing the 2011 Census, he stated that Jharkhand’s total population was 3,29,88,134, of which 86,45,042 were tribals (26.20 per cent).
“Of these, 14,18,608 were Christians, meaning 15.48 per cent of the total tribal population had adopted Christianity. If tribals continue to drift away from their religion and culture, who will fill the Sarna religious code?” he said.
Marandi said that if the Congress and JMM are concerned about tribal tradition and culture, they should first protect those.
Meanwhile, former chief minister and senior BJP leader Raghubar Das accused the Congress for Sarna not being recognised a separate religious code.
Addressing reporters in Palamu, Das said, “During the regime of former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, our party had raised the issue of having a separate column for the Sarna religion, which was ignored.” PTI SAN CORR SAN ACD
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