Kurmi community demands ST status at Ranchi rally

Ranchi, Feb 25 (PTI) Members of the Kurmi community took out a rally here on Sunday to press for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and inclusion of Kurmali language in the eighth schedule of the Constitution.

Organised under the banner of ‘Totemic Kurmi Vikas Morcha’ (TKVM), hundreds of people from different districts of the state including Ranchi, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Giridih, Hazaribagh and Jamtara participated in the march.

Chief convener of the rally, Sheetal Ohdar, said Scheduled Tribe (ST) status for the community and the addition of Kurmali language in the eighth schedule are among their major demands.

"Under a conspiracy, Kurmi was removed from the ST list on September 6, 1950," Ohdar claimed.

She also asserted that if the demands were not met, members of the community will vote against the ruling party at the Centre in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"We will visit villages and pass on this message,” she said.

The eighth schedule to the Constitution consists of 22 languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Oriya, Sanskrit, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri. PTI