Summary:
Ranchi, Oct 18 (PTI) Tribal body Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan (ASA) on Tuesday staged a dharna in Ranchi demanding recognition to ‘Sarna’ , a distinct religious category for indigenous people.
Tribals from Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and West Bengal are participating in the agitation, the venue of which has been shifted to a place near Morabadi ground here.
Earlier the demonstration was proposed near Raj Bhawan, the ASA said.
“We have been demanding a distinct Sarna religious code for tribals and have written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others," ASA president Salkhan Murmu said.
The indigenous people are nature worshipers and are not Hindus, Muslims or Christians, he said.
"We are engaged in the worship of nature in the name of Sarna Dharma.
Nature is our sustainer, our God.
Our worship, thinking, rituals, festivals, and festivals are inextricably linked with nature.
We are not idol worshippers.
“We do not even have the concept of the Varna system, heaven-hell, etc.
It is also a matter of our existence and identity, " the ASA said in a letter to the President.
The ASA demanded that in the census papers, they be identified as followers of the Sarna Dharma code.
The tribals in 250 blocks of 50 districts in Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, and West Bengal would be “forced” to resort to ‘chakka jam’ from November 30 if the Centre fails to give reasons for denying the recognition of Sarna code by November 20, Murmu, a former BJP MP, said.
“The tribals have been demanding a Sarna code for a long time but their demands have been neglected," he said.
The population of tribals in the country is more than Buddhists but their religion is not recognised, Murmu claimed.
PTI NAM MM MM
.