Jharkhand Assembly Polls: How tribal identity issue has taken centrestage 

Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram(ABVKA), a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-inspired organisation has been flagging this issue and working on the ground to address it since its inception in 1952. In addition to the illegal immigration of Bangladeshi immigrants, the conversion of tribals primarily to Christianity—carried out in a well-planned manner by missionaries in the tribal areas—is also a significant challenge.

Janjati Surakasha Manch (JJSM), a low-profile but high-impact organisation launched with the inspiration of ABVKA in 2006, has played a stellar role in mobilising tribals on this issue. Jharkhand is one of the key states where JJSM has held dozens of public rallies and meetings in the tribal belt since 2006. Over the last four years, it has made a renewed effort to rally the tribals around one key demand: the delisting of those tribals from the ST category who have converted to Christianity.

JJSM’s style of functioning is typically that of a cadre-based organisation. Its office bearers are predominantly tribal. Its cadres walk for miles in the remotest parts of the tribal areas and, with the help of their local resource persons, connect with the poorest of the poor tribals. They speak in their language, share meals with them, spend time with them, and explain key issues related to their identity.

JJSM has held around 200 public meetings over the last couple of years. Of these, 19 were state-level rallies, while the rest were primarily public meetings at the district and divisional levels. In Jharkhand, two state-level meetings and dozens of smaller public meetings have been held. The state-level meetings were attended by 35,000 tribals, as informed by a JJSM functionary.

JJSM is an apolitical platform with stakeholders from various sections of the tribal community. However, its activities seem to have a significant political impact as well. In the Chhattisgarh assembly polls in December 2023, the BJP swept to power due to its strong performance in tribal-dominated areas. In the 2018 assembly polls, the BJP won three out of 25 seats reserved for the STs in the 90-seat assembly. In 2019, it won 17 of these seats. The JJSM has also been quite active in Chhattisgarh.

The commitment of JJSM to its cause can be gauged by the fact that its leaders met 445 Members of Parliament (337 from the Lok Sabha and 108 from the Rajya Sabha) in March 2022 to press for their demand for the delisting of converted tribals.

Historical Struggle: Unresolved issue

Efforts were made by Kartik Oraon, a stalwart of the tribal community, way back in the 1960s to get the converted tribals delisted from the list of STs; these efforts continued in the 1970s but of no avail. Oraon was a three-time Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha.

As per the data presented by Kartik Oraon in Parliament, many of the tribal beneficiaries of the constitutional rights were the converted tribes. Theoretically, once someone converts to the Christian faith, the concerned individual has to take an oath of being monotheistic and not to indulge in the worshipping of other Gods and Goddesses. This implies that the converted individuals from scheduled tribe communities stop worshipping their traditional Gods and Goddesses and they also give up their customary traditions and way of life.

In the given scenario, the question arises how can he or she be called tribal? If someone has converted to Christianity, why should he or she get the rights and benefits that are meant for the tribal people? Therefore, converted individuals must be removed from the constitutional safeguards provided for tribal communities that are essentially meant for the protection of their traditional ethos, culture, identity, and livelihood.

The same point was raised in the Parliament by Kartik Oraon with great emphasis. Owing to his efforts, a joint parliamentary committee was formed in the year 1968, which consisted of 22 MPs from the Lok Sabha and 11 MPs from the Rajya Sabha. Kartik Oraon himself was one of the members of the committee. The committee had 22 meetings and on 17^th November 1969, it presented a report to Parliament. In this report, besides other things, one important recommendation was made — “As per 2A of Clause 2, if any person leaves the tradition, culture behind and converts to Islam or Christianity, he will not be considered as a part of the Scheduled tribe” (page 29, line no 38, schedule 2, clause 2A).

However, this report was never implemented. Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also paid tributes to tribal Kartik Oraon on his birth centenary recently. Modi hailed Oraon “as a great leader who dedicated his entire life for the rights and self-respect of the tribal community and being a vocal spokesperson of the tribal society to protect the tribal culture and identity.”

Earlier RSSFACTS columns can be read here.