In part of its nationwide campaign, the Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM), a body affiliated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) backed Vanvashi Kalyan Kendra, held a rally demanding delisting of converted tribals from the status of Scheduled Tribe (ST) on December 26 at the Vivekananda Stadium, Agartala. Earlier the rally was scheduled for December 25. As a result, there were criticisms from Opposition parties like TIPRA Motha and CPI(M). Even the ruling BJP’s ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) joined the Opposition in criticising the rally. Later, it was postponed to December 26 after intervention from Chief Minister Manik Saha.
Even after this, the Opposition isn’t satisfied with the demand of the JSM. They termed the demand of delisting converted tribals from ST status as “divisive” and “unconstitutional”.
JSM’s demand isn’t new
The demand for delisting of converted tribals dates back to the 1960s when it was first raised by then Congress MP Kartik Oraon. A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was also set up, which found that many of the beneficiaries meant for Scheduled Tribes were the converted ones. One of the important recommendations of the report was to delist the ST status of those tribals who had left their tradition and culture and converted to Christianity or Islam. However, the matter was put into cold storage by the Indira Gandhi-led Congress government. The subsequent governments too ignored this.
The demand of the JSM, founded in 2006, is to amend Article 342 of the Indian Constitution in line with Article 341, which says that no person who professes a religion different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism shall be a member of the Scheduled Caste (SC). It means that if any SC member converts to Christianity or Islam, he/she loses the SC status.
The fact that can’t be denied is that many tribals have stopped practising their traditions — where the important rituals include worshipping trees, hills and spirits — after converting to monotheist religions. This is a sensitive issue as many of the tribals have converted to Christianity in the Northeast and that’s how Christianity became a majority religion in tribal majority states like Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.
Why are Opposition parties critical of JSM’s demand?
The main Opposition party, TIPRA Motha, is worried that if the tribals are divided based on religion, then it may hurt its electoral prospects. The party, which currently is the dominant party in the tribal belt, sees this as an act by the BJP from behind, through JSM, to weaken its base in the tribal belt. It believes that this is a strategy to weaken the Motha’s call of Thansa, which means unity of the Tiprasa community. That’s the reason Motha, including its leader royal scion Pradyot Debbarma, has been very vocal in opposing the demand of the JSM. CPI(M) is also opposed for the same reason.
There are reasons for the Opposition to worry as in the recently held state elections of Chhattisgarh, the conversion of tribals became one of the crucial issues and this helped the BJP to perform well in the tribal-dominated Bastar belt of the state.
One may or may not completely agree with the demands of the JSM but calling it ‘unconstitutional’ doesn’t stand on the ground as the organisation also has the right to voice its demand peacefully in a democratic way. That is what it is doing. Even its Agartala rally, which was thought to worsen the social fabric of the state or even create a “Manipur-like situation”, took place peacefully.
History of forced conversions in Tripura
As far as dividing the tribals of the state is concerned, let’s not forget how the tribals are killed in the name of religion by those who advocate themselves as the “protectors of the community”. The terrorist group National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), which misled many tribal youths by showing them the unrealistic fantastical dream of ‘Independent Tripura’, was at the forefront in forcing the tribals to abandon Hinduism and accept Christianity. The terrorist organisation even issued diktats urging the tribals not to celebrate Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja.
Those tribals who refused to follow the commands of NLFT were killed. One of the prominent tribals killed by the NLFT terrorists was Shanti Kali Maharaj or Shanti Kali Tripura, who was actively involved in spreading the Hindu culture in the tribal belt.
“Over the past five years, the NLFT has been consistently attacking and killing Hindu tribals and forcing them to convert to Christianity at gunpoint. During this period, altogether 35 Hindu tribals, including leading Hindu tribal saint ‘Shanti Kali Maharaj’ or ‘Shanti Kumar Tripura’ and two leading Vaishnavaite leaders Tachhidas Reang and Sanjit Reang have been killed by the NLFT. Besides, many Hindu ashrams and religious centres run by the tribals have been destroyed by the militants.” — excerpts from a report of The Telegraph published in April 2001.
Importantly, the terrorist group NLFT was supported by the Church and this allegation with evidence was put forward by then Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who led the CPI(M)-led Left Front government, after state police arrested Nagmanlal Halam, secretary of the Noapara Baptist Church in April 2000, with a large quantity of explosives. Manik Sarkar, speaking to the BBC, then said that state police had uncovered details of the alleged link between the state’s Baptist Church and the NLFT terrorists after questioning this Church leader.
It’s another story that these stories of forced conversions of Hindu tribes to Christianity in the Northeast state are ignored deliberately in the mainstream discourse of the country. Even the parties of the state projecting themselves as the “protectors of the tribals” are silent on this. This argument that the RSS-backed JSM is trying to divide the tribals in the name of religion isn’t true as the tribals of Tripura have gone through various kinds of atrocities only for practising Hinduism, which acts as an umbrella accommodating the various tribal faiths.
The author is a political commentator and tweets @SagarneelSinha. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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