In Chhattisgarh, the demand to exclude Christian tribes from the Scheduled Tribes category is increasing.

The delisting or delisting demand is being made at a time when assembly elections are to be held in the state in the next six months.

In educational or work institutions, the same community obtains the reservation facility, whose name is included in the list of Scheduled Castes or Tribes.

In recent months, Hindu organizations affiliated with the BJP and RSS have held several demonstrations in Chhattisgarh, from Bastar to Surguja, demanding delisting. In response to this, Christian organizations also demonstrated in some areas.

Tribal leader Ganeshram Bhagat, who was a minister in the BJP government in Chhattisgarh, is active on the delisting issue and is the national coordinator of the Tribal Security Forum.

Ganeshram Bhagat says, “Our demand is very clear. The person from tribal society who has adopted Christianity or Islam, abandoned tribal practice, stopped traditional worship, stopped rituals, should be considered tribal.” The result must be stopped.”

However, Christian organizations are calling the delisting demand an attempt to polarize votes by increasing community tension.

Arun Pannalal, Chairman of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, says that tribals who have abandoned tribal tradition and adopted Hindu religion in recent years, will there be a demand to exclude them from the scope of the reservation?

Chhattisgarh Sarva Adivasi Samaj also disagrees with the delisting demand.

Sarv Adivasi Samaj Chairman and former Union Minister Arvind Netam says some way can be considered for tribes whose identity is changing, those who are converting, but delisting only destroys the strength of tribes .

Arvind Netam told the BBC: “By underestimating the number of tribes in this way, rights such as reservation, forestry rights, fifth and sixth list area and their related rights and the extent of panchayat in scheduled areas they will always deny the tribes.” , the tribes will be marginalized.”

In Chhattisgarh, with a population of around three crores, the tribal population is around 32 percent.

According to the 2011 census, the Muslim population in the state was 2.02 percent and the Christian population 1.92 percent. Similarly, the Sikh population in the state was 0.27, Buddhist 0.28, and Jain 0.24 percent.

However, Christian organizations claim that the number of ‘believers’ who believe in Christianity, go to church, pray is many times higher and their vote is important in at least 30 of the 90 seats in the state assembly.

For example, in the Jashpur district, more than 35 percent of the tribal population are tribal Christians, while in the undivided Surguja district, this figure is around seven percent.

Social worker Brijendra says that for the last 70 years there have been miscalculations of tribal society, so there is confusion regarding the religious and cultural identity of the tribes.

They show with the documents that when the census was taken in 1891, the tribes remained in the category of ‘Forest Tribe’.

In 1901 it was changed to ‘animist’ i.e. naturalist, ‘tribal animist’ in 1911, ‘hill and woodland tribe’ in 1921, ‘primitive tribe’ in 1931 and by 1941 it was simply ‘tribes’.

Brijendra says, “When the census was taken in 1951, the column for tribes was removed. Some tribes fell into the category of Hindus, some Christians, and some naturalists. Many tribes converted to Christianity, even then there was a difference in benefits of reserve. For fear of being reprimanded, he refrained from including himself as a Christian in the category of religion, a position he continues to this day.”

50 year demandDebate up to Parliament

The demand to exclude tribal Christians or Muslims from the scope of the reserve and other facilities is not new. Kartik Oraon, MP from Lohardaga area of ​​Undivided Bihar raised this demand several times.

Similarly, on 21 August 1967, a Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha following the Lokur Committee’s report on the issue of inclusion or exclusion of any particular caste in the Scheduled Castes or Tribes, amendment therein.

On 1 March 1968, the ‘Scheduled Castes and Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill’ was referred to a joint Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha committee for discussion.

Exactly one year later, on November 11, 1970, the then Minister for Law and Social Welfare K Hanumanthayya proposed this bill in the Lok Sabha.

K Hanumanthayya said in his proposal: “The Joint Committee has recommended that a person who renounces his religion and adopts Christianity or Islam should not be considered a member of a registered tribe.”

He said: “This amendment is not acceptable because it discriminates between people who follow Christianity and Islam and people who follow other religions.”

what does the constitution say,

Former Chhattisgarh High Court Advocate General and constitutional expert Kanak Tiwari says the delisting demand is completely unconstitutional.

Kanak Tiwari says that after removing the separate column for tribes in the census, the intention of the current central government is for the tribes to write a religion and write Hinduism, while a large part of the tribes does not agree with it.

Kanak Tiwari says, “Even if tribals convert to any religion, they will still be tribal i.e. their reservation will be available to them which is according to the constitution. Yes, if Dalits convert to Islam or Christianity So they have the benefit of being a Dalit. The reason for this is that in Islam and Christianity Dalits, like Hinduism, are not separate. They are all Christians or Muslims.”

Arvind Netam of Sarv Adivasi Samaj says that Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism were born here among the Hindus. They are marked separately. Adivasis are the natives of this place. Tribes must be identified separately. Their independent identity must be recognized.

Netam says: “The tribes are not Hindus, this is very clear. Our tradition, culture and beliefs are the oldest in the world. The tribes do not have the benefit of reservation on the basis of religion. Some people, if they believe in Christianity or Hinduism, even if they maintain it, their right to reservation cannot be taken away.”

However, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the delisting demand is a ploy to mislead the BJP and the Sangh.

Speaking to the media about the rallies to be held in the state regarding the delisting, he said: “This Bharatiya Janata Party, RSS, Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, all these people put together are just misleading. They have no work to do.” , only deceive, conspire”.

In Chhattisgarh, the Chhattisgarh Congress government received public praise from RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad on many issues like Ramvangaman Path, purchase of cow dung and urine, promotion of Ramayana Mandali, Kaushalya Mata Mandir.

In such a situation, it is believed that Hindutva-related conversion and delisting are issues that the Bharatiya Janata Party will try to make a big issue in this election year from Bastar to Surguja.

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