Ranchi, Sept 2020: The Catholic Church in Jharkhand has asked the state government to pass a bill for a separate code for Adivasis in the eastern Indian state.

Catholic bishops of Jharkhand, led by the Ranchi Archdiocese, September 19 wrote to the chief minister to remind him that the Indian Constitution has given Advisasis a special status.

“The Articles 25, 29 and 342 talk about their (tribals) fundamental rights, safety and identity. Therefore, they must be provided a separate Sarna code, guaranteeing the rights of the tribal community to their language, religion, culture and a separate identity,” said the letter, signed by Archbishop Felix Toppo of Ranchi.

The Church wants the code passed during the ongoing monsoon session and ahead of the 2021 Census.

“We demand the chief minister pass a bill in this connection to safeguard tribal identity and send the proposal to the Union government to formally press for inclusion of the Sarna code in the impending Census,” the letter added.

Sarna “religion” is followed by tribals in several Indian states, including Jharkhand. It is based on the concept of nature worship. Tribals in Jharkhand have long been demanding a separate Sarna religious code in the Census.

The bishops have also demanded that the state government to pass a resolution not to implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Jharkhand until the federal government grants a Sarna code to Adivasis.

On September 17, Salkhan Murmu, state president and convener of the Adivasi Senghal Abhiyan under the Janata Dal United party, staged a daylong sit-in to demand a separate code for Adivasis in the Census. In January, Murmu had also written to President Ramnath Kovind.

According to Murmu, Jharkhand has about 32 tribal groups, of which eight are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). A few have converted to Christianity while others worship nature.

“Jains and Buddhist are less in number vis-a-vis the tribal population but they have a separate religious code. The tribals are still fighting for it for decades. By denying a separate religious code for tribals, the government wants to put tribals in the category of Hindus, Muslim and Christian category, which isn’t right and logical because of Adivasis’ distinct identity,” he said.

Murmu said that in the 2011 Census, around 4.2 million people from Jharkhand and about 60 million across the country had mentioned their religion as Sarna, which was later included in the “others” section.

Meanwhile political parties such as Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal had promised to work towards a Sarna code for tribals in the run-up the Assembly polls held in 2019.

The previous government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (2014-2019) had introduced an anti-conversion law accusing the Church of forcefully converting tribals and usurping their land. The BJP-led government had also initiated probes against several Church NGOs and put curbs on them from receiving funds from overseas that they alleged were used to fund poor tribals.

Source: telegraphindia.com