Jharkhand News: Tribal activists in Jharkhand have threatened self-immolation if Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not make an announcement declaring Sarna as a separate religion during his November 15 visit to the state.
The threat was issued by two tribal activists of the ‘Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan’ (ASA), its president Salkhan Murmu said in a statement on Saturday.
In this bid to push for recognition of Sarna as a separate religion, Tribal activists will also observe fast between 10 AM to 1 PM in Jharkhand and other states on the day of Prime Minister’s visit.
PM Modi is scheduled to visit Ulihatu, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda, in Khunti district of the state on his birth anniversary on November 15, which is also the Jharkhand Foundation day.
Murmu, a former Parliamentarian, said the immolation decision by two ASA members was made independently.
“We are expecting the prime minister to make an announcement on our long-standing demand for the recognition of a separate ‘Sarna’ religion … If he does not make the Centre’s stand clear over our demand, the two activists have decided to immolate themselves at 4 pm at Ulihatu and Bokaro,” Murmu said.
On November 8, ASA staged a rally Jharkhand capital Ranchi demanding the Central government to recognize Sarna as a separate religion.
Incidentally, the Centre declared November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ since 2021.
Murmu said majority of the states in the country like Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal were formed on linguistic basis to preserve their cultures, identities and languages but Santhali, despite being recongnised under the 8th schedule of Constitution in 2003, was not made the official language of Jharkhand till date though it was carved out of Bihar after a long tribal movement for statehood.
ASA leaders from Assam, Bengal and Jharkhand in a meeting on Friday decided to hold a rail and road blockade in support of Sarna religion on December 30.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren earlier this week said PM Modi is welcome in Jharkhand but the decision to recognise the ‘Sarna’ religion is still pending with the Centre.
“We have already sent all the papers (related to demands for a separate Sarna religious code for tribals) to him … Now he has to take a decision on it,” Soren said on Thursday.
The recognition of Sarna religion is necessary to identify tribals as different from the followers of other religions and to ensure the protection of their constitutional rights, he said.
Soren in a letter to the prime minister in September had sought the recognition of the ‘Sarna’ code for tribals and claimed that their population in the region has declined to 26 per cent from 38 per cent in the last eight decades.
(With PTI inputs)
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