Santhals from five states demand their religion "Sarna" be recognized

 

 

New Delhi, July 1: Santhal Janjati people from five states of the country have demanded that their religion "Sarna Dharma" be recognized as separate and they should be allowed to state it in the upcoming census.

 

A large number of Santhal Janjati people drawn from the states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, Bihar and West Bengal staged a massive demonstration in the national capital in support of their demand on Thursday.

 

They claimed that they have a separate way of life, religious practices, customs, culture and traditions and hence, their religion popularly known as "Sarna Dharma" be recognized as a separate religion.

 

They held a massive prayer at Jantar Mantar seeking blessings of their deities and revered leaders to get the government recognition.

 

The demonstration was held to commemorate the anniversary of the launching of the Santhal Rebellion against the British Raj on June 30, 1855, two years ahead of the 1857 War of Independence.

 

Led by Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu the Santhal rebellion began on June 30, 1855, and went on for almost six months before it was finally suppressed by January 3, 1856, leaving over 15,000 Santhals dead and over 10,000 of their villages destroyed.

 

Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, mobilized roughly 60,000 Santhals and declared a rebellion against the East India Company. Sidhu Murmu had accumulated about ten thousand Santhals to run a parallel government during the rebellion.

 

The Janjati people who participated in Thursday's march at Jantar Mantar raised their demand under the banner of the Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan (Janjati empowerment campaign). They had come from nearly 250 janjati-dpminated blocks of these five states.

 

PTI quoted their leader Salkhan Murmu who belongs to Jharkhand and a prominent leader of the janjati people as saying ""We are here to demand that the government recognises our religion as 'Sarna' and include a provision in the upcoming census for enumeration of Adivasis under this category."

 

Salkhan Murmu is a socio-political activist. He is the founder and national president of Jharkhand Disom Party. He was twice elected as the Member of Parliament in 12th and 13th Lok Sabha from Mayurbhanj constituency in Odisha as a BJP candidate during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Govt.

 

He said that they wanted to meet the President Ram Nath Kovind to convey their demand and request him to recognize their religion as "Sarna Dharma" but failed to do so as their appointment could not be fixed. However, they submitted a memorandum to the President.

 

Murmu, a former BJP MP from Odisha's Mayurbhanj Lok Sabha constituency for two consecutive terms from 1998-2004, said that the Janjati people in the country have their own religion, religious practices and customs, but it has not yet been recognised by the government. "We have our own way of life, religious practices, customs, culture and religious thoughts, different from any other religion. We worship nature and not idols. There is neither Varna system in our society or any sort of inequality," he said.

 

In absence of the government's recognition to their religion, the members of the Scheduled Tribe communities in the country are misled and at times lured to embrace other faiths, he claimed.

 

"India is home to over 12 crore Janjati people. They have been recognised as Scheduled Tribes but unfortunately their religion has not been recognised even as it is fundamental under the Constitution," he said.

 

"Since all the Janjati people worship nature and their religious thoughts, practice, culture and customs are way different from any other religion, we demand that our religion be recognised as Sarna," Murmu said.

 

"Sarna" can be accepted as a common name for the religion of all Janjati people in the country as it means place of worship in Santhali language, he pointed out.

 

As many as 1,000 people had arrived from the five states in trains, but not all could join the protest as police denied them permission citing some court order and restrictions imposed due to Covid-19, Murmu said.