The tribals in Jharkhand have threatened to stop the 2020-21 census. The tribals, who follow Sarna dharma, have placed their demand with Chief Minister Hemant Soren for implementation of the Sarna Dharma Code, On Sunday, they created a human chain in all districts of the state and demonstrated with posters and banners in hand with Sarna dress code. The displayed their strength, supported by the Central Sarna Samiti and various tribal organisations, by creating a human chain from Birsa Chowk in the Ranchi to the assembly and from Birsa samadhi site at Kokar to Booty Mor. In Lohardaga district, Sarna tribals formed a human chain demanding the implementation of their demand with children and women too participating.
The Central Sarna Committee say that the Sarna code is a very old demand of tribals and that Baba Kartik Oraon and Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda had demanded Sarna code implementation from the then government. At that time, the tribals were not given the Sarna code and their conflict continues. They added that tribals have been fighting for their distinct identity and will continue to do so and demanded Hemant Soren’s government to pass the Sarna Dharma Code Bill in the monsoon session and send it to the centre. The committee says that in spite of the chief minister, governor and opposition leaders themselves being tribals, they still have had to agitate for their rights and added that if the Sarna code is not taken up in the monsoon session, the tribals would not allow the MLAs to enter their home villages.
The chairman of the Central Sarna Committee threatened that the tribal society would not think twice before carrying out a countrywide agitation to enforce the Sarna code. Secretary-General Sanjay Tirkey said that in pre-independence India, it was recognised as a religion from 1871 to 1941, and in independent India, when the census took place in 1951 after independence, the tribal religion column was removed. He said that it should be restored. The programme was attended by Neera Toppo, Chairman Women’s Wing, Central Sarna Samiti Treasurer from Bhuneshwar, Chairman of Ranchi District Sarna Committee Amar Tirkey and others.
