Bengal: Tribal body's strike demanding separate code for ‘Sarna’ religion evokes partial impact

National strike by tribal body organisations, demanding separate code for 'Sarna' religion, evoked partial impact since morning of Saturday, 30 December, in certain pockets of West Bengal especially those with substantial tribal population.

As a part of the movement titled under the banner of 'Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan', the tribal body association started rail blockades at various stations in the districts with substantial tribal population namely West Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore in South Bengal and pockets in Malda district in North Bengal since early Saturday morning.

As per the latest information available, the rail blockades have been removed at certain important junction stations, but normal train services in those routes have continued to be heavily disrupted. Several long distance trains are reported to be running late.

However, according to the tribal association leader Dhaneswar Hansda, their agitations including rail and road blockades will continue till 6 p.m. on Thursday, 4 January, meaning that there will be continuing day-long inconveniences for the daily railway commuters.

The main demands of the agitating tribal bodies are not only recognition of 'Sarna' as a separate religion but also introduction of separate code for that religion. They argue that the official percentage of tribal population in the total population of the country has declined to 26 per cent currently from the earlier figure of 38 per cent because of this non-recognition of the 'Sarna' religion.

The associations also demanded the recognition of Santhali language as the principal language in Jharkhand. In case of West Bengal, they are demanding tribal bodies' absolute administrative control on Ayodhya Hills in Purulia district of West Bengal.