Ranchi: The national president of Adivasi Senghal Abhiyan (ASA) and state chief of Janata Dal United (JDU) Salkhan Murmu on Saturday announced a nationwide chakka jam protest on December 6 to press the Centre for a separate religion code ahead of the 2021 census.
Following a spate of protests, the Hemant Soren government on November 11 passed a resolution in favour of an Adivasi Sarna code at the assembly and forwarded a proposal to the Union government.
“Although the assembly cleared the resolution, several tribal bodies have been congratulating only chief minister Hemant Soren and the ruling parties. We want both the grand alliance and opposition camps to apprise the people about the strategies to fulfil the long-pending demand for a separate religion code for tribals,” Murmu said at a news meet in Ranchi on Saturday.
He said, “Two years back, the Karnataka government had passed a resolution in favour of Lingayats and had sent it to the Union government, but the latter denied to accept it. Hence, the state government and other political parties of Jharkhand must hit the roads until the Union government accepts the resolution.”
He also appealed all the parties to join hands for the December 6 protest in the interest of tribal rights. “As far as JD(U) is concerned, it is strongly backing the demonstration,” he said.
ASA has its base in five states — Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Orissa and West Bengal. Murmu said that the protest will be effective in all these five states. Various tribal bodies have also been asked to support the movement. Before the December 6 protest, a bike rally will be held in Ranchi on December 1 while similar rallies will be held between December 2 and 4 in other states as a prelude to the nationwide stir.
The demand for a separate religion code, tribals say, is imperative to retain their distinctive cultural and religious identity. Without a separate code (column) during census, they are classified either as Hindus, Jains, Muslim and others.