Why India's tribal disquiet is a powder keg not limited to Manipur

West Bengal’s rail and road communications with several western and southern states were paralysed for about a week last month with hundreds of trains cancelled and vehicles stranded. The disruption was due to protests by an Other Backward Class Kurmi community, which is seeking Scheduled Tribe status. The protesters blockaded railway tracks and adjacent National Highway 6, which connects Kolkata to Mumbai, at Khemasuli in Paschim Medinipur district and Kustaur station in Purulia.

Similar blockades were enforced by the community in neighbouring Jharkhand. In Odisha, Kurmis staged demonstrations and blocked a national highway in tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district.

The Adivasi Kurmi Samaj (AKS) that spearheaded the stir in Bengal has set a September 20 deadline for the central and state governments to meet their demand, failing which it has threatened a bigger inter-states agitation.

Also read | Bengal: Mamata government in a fix as Kurmis protest for ST status

“If our ST demand is not met within the stipulated timeframe of September 20, an indefinite rail and road blockades will be enforced jointly in West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand,” AKS adviser Ajit Mahato told The Federal.

AKS is using the intervening period to garner more support for its impending stir.
“We are currently engaged in a mass-mobilisation drive in the form of wall writings, door-to-door visits and meetings in villages. This will continue till September 20, the deadline we set for the governments to fulfil our demand,” Mahato said.

The community in the meantime has put a “ban” on activities of all political parties in the areas dominated by it.

The seriousness of their resolve was experienced by BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh when he went to attend a party event at Lalgarh in Jhargram district on Sunday (May 14).

He was gheraoed by the agitated members of the community for defying the ban, leading to altercations.

Effigies of the BJP leader were burnt in some Kurmi-dominated areas on Monday for his alleged disregard to the community.

A similar build up is also being witnessed in Jharkhand and Odisha as the Kurmis have decided to intensify their agitation for ST status.

As their movements gather momentum, the existing aboriginal tribes such as Santhals, Mundas, Oraons and others are getting restive. They are apprehensive of losing their rights, particularly land holding.

Also read | Explained: What is Article 355 that has been imposed in Manipur

To protect the rights, tribals are rallying together for a counter movement. To bring together tribals of various states in opposing the reservation pitch of the Kurmis, a mega

“Adivasi Bachao Rally” was held at Ranchi’s Morabadi Ground in March this year.
It was attended by tribal representatives from West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam among other states.

Tribal organisations at the rally argued that the Kurmis were not only far more advanced in education and economic prosperity than the Adivasis but also lack distinct tribal traits and hence they do not qualify for the reservation benefits.

“Kurmis mostly follow Hindu rituals and culture. They are not nature worshippers like the Adivasis. Their social rituals do not match Adivasi rituals. Moreover, they speak the Aryan language,” said Ganesh Murmu, a leader of the West Bengal unit of the Adivasi Sengel Abhijan, a leading tribal organisation.

Kurmali language that Kurmis speak falls under Indo-Aryan languages while aboriginal tribal languages such as Santhali are Austroasiatic languages.

Kurmis of Chotanagpur region, who are not to be confused with Kurmis of Gangetic plains, were classified as a Notified Tribe in 1865. They were subsequently enlisted as a Primitive Tribe in 1913.

The community was however delisted from the ST list prepared in 1950 by amalgamating the Primitive Tribes List of 1931 and the Backward Tribes List of 1936.

The community is included in the OBC category in the three eastern states. But now they want the ST status.

“Under no circumstance, the tribal people will accept the Kurmis into the tribal fold. We will oppose their demand tooth and nail,” said former Jharkhand minister and one of the organisers of the rally Geetashree Oraon.

Also read | Manipur: Shoot-at-sight orders issued; Article 355 imposed as violence flares up

Claiming that demand of the Kurmis does not have any justification, she pointed out how in the past the community even tried to identify themselves as Kshatriyas or Rajputs.

“Now, they want to redefine their identity purely because that will enable them to get the benefits of job reservation and buy tribal land. Tribals will never allow this,” she added.

As both sides gear up to defend their identity and rights, there is an ever increasing fissure between tribals and non-tribals, who have been harmoniously coexisting in the tribal heartlands of the three states for centuries.

“One wrong move or a small provocation can blow up the simmering conflict into a major conflagration akin to the one witnessed in Manipur over the same reservation issue,” admits Oraon.

At the core of the recent ethnic violence in Manipur that took over 70 lives was the fear of the tribal Kuki community that once the state’s dominant Meitei community attained ST status, they would lose their exclusive rights over their land.

The ownership rights of land in tribal areas covered under Schedule 5 of the Constitution cannot be acquired by non-tribals.

Despite the protection, tribals alleged that their rights are being threatened as successive governments often acquire their land and give it to private parties on the pretext of development.

Besides, the ST list is constantly being enlarged by the political parties to suit their identity politics.

The BJP government at the Centre last year granted ST status to Paharia community of Jammu and Kashmir, Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities of Tamil Nadu, Gond community of Uttar Pradesh, Betta-Kuruba community of Karnataka, Hatti community of Himachal Pradesh and Binjhias of Chhattisgarh.

The inclusion raised hope among several other communities across India who are demanding the ST status.

In eastern India alone there are several such demands. Apart from Meiteis in Manipur and Kurmis in three eastern Indian states, there are six other communities in Assam who are also seeking the ST status, pitting them against the state’s tribal communities.
The six communities are Matak, Moran Tai-Ahom, Chutia, Koch-Rajbongshi and Adivasi (referred to as Tea Tribe in Assam).

Their demand is a constant source of discord between tribals and non-tribals resulting in many agitations, blockades and bandhs in the north-eastern state.

“Many communities across India have now suddenly started demanding ST status despite having no tribal traits as part of a larger design to further marginalise the tribal communities by taking away their land,” she told The Federal.

As part of the countrywide tribal mobilisation an All-India Adivasi convention has been planned for May 21 at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

“The main objective of the convention is to reinforce the age-old tribal conception of Abua Disum Abua Raj (our village our governance),” Manas Hansda, a tribal leader, who will be attending the convention, told The Federal.

That’s not all. Another set of competing movements over religion is being waged, keeping the vast swathe of India’s tribal heartlands on the boil.

Adivasis are also frequently hitting the streets seeking recognition of their indigenous faith, ‘Sarna’ as a separate religion.

Adivasi organisations such as Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad and Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan (ASA), which are leading the fight for separate religious code for the tribals in the Census, say indigenous communities should not be clubbed with Hindus.

“We have our own tribal deities and way of worship that are distinct from Hinduism and hence we should not be treated as Hindus,” said ASA leader Salkhan Murmu, a former BJP MP.

In the Census form, there are eight categories to define a person’s religious affiliation – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, unaffiliated (atheists) and Other Religions and Persuasions (ORP).

The tribal groups want that there should be an additional column for the indigenous tribal faith.

The demand stems from the fact that nearly 50 lakh tribal people mentioned their religion as ‘Sarna’ in the ORP category during the 2011 Census.

Around 79 lakh people ticked the ORP column in the Census form, which is 0.7 per cent of the country’s total population. The figure is almost equal to the Buddhist population and higher than the Jains in the country.

As part of its ongoing push for a separate religious code, the ASA has decided to organise a ‘Vishwa Sarna Dharam Code Janasabha’ at Brigade Parade ground in Kolkata on June 30, coinciding with Santhal Hul Day, Murmu said.

As the separate religion demand of the adivasis started getting traction, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) raised a new call to delist converted tribals from the ST list.
The RSS and its affiliates claim that the indigenous tribal faiths are mere extensions of the larger Sanatan Hindu Dharma tradition. So tribals are Hindus.

Anyone who converts to any other religion ceases to be a tribal and hence should be denied the ST status that entitles them to reservation in jobs, education and legislative bodies, besides other benefits.

The Hindu right-wing body is pushing for a policy change to deny the benefits of ST status to converted tribals.

The move, if successful, can strip almost the entire tribal population of Northeast of the ST benefits as the overwhelming majority of the tribals in the region have adopted Christianity.
These identity conflicts have turned the tribal areas of India into a powder keg waiting to explode. Manipur was just one instance.