Tana Bhagats, a small Oraon spiritual sect in Jharkhand identified for being peaceable and their adherence to the Gandhian lifestyle, are up in arms, having participated in two violent protests this 12 months. It has left the administration mystified and struggling to provide you with an acceptable response.
The protesters declare their agitation revolves round interpretation of the fifth Schedule of the Structure, which goals to protect tribal tradition and financial empowerment to “guarantee social, financial and political justice”.
A letter by Akhil Bhartiya Tana Bhagat Committee (ABTBC), Latehar district, which in response to the protesters was imagined to have been given to the authorities, learn: “Anusuchit chhetra mein prashasanik thana, anumandal zila adalatein aur uccha nyayalaya, Samvidhan ke upbandhon ke viruddh kritya karte hue karyarat hain. Inhe tatkal bandh karein. (The operation of police stations, divisional district courts and the excessive court docket within the Scheduled areas is in opposition to the Structure, and must be shut down instantly).”
This was in April this 12 months, when a bunch of protesting Tana Bhagats had locked the workplace of the collectorate, together with the Deputy Commissioner’s workplace, demanding cancellation of panchayat polls within the district, claiming it was unconstitutional.
Then, October 10, over 500 Tana Bhagats, armed with sticks and sickles, gathered exterior Latehar district court docket and demanded full self-rule with no courts or authorities interference. They locked the court docket premises, bringing work to a standstill. Because the matter escalated, the protesters broken its iron grille and pelted stones, prompting the police to resort to lathicharge. Out of the 228 folks named within the FIR on the incident, over 30 have been arrested.
Two years in the past, that they had come out in protest, blockading rail tracks on the Tori Junction within the Chandwe space of Latehar district, stranding many trains, together with the Rajdhani Categorical, for hours.
The State response
Whereas police proceed to maintain vigil exterior the court docket and district collectorate premises, Latehar SP Anjani Anjan mentioned, “The women and men who declare to be of the Tana Bhagat sect, had marched with sickles and lathis. They known as the police and judiciary as thieves and abused them. It resulted in violence. We arrested 30 folks. As per our enter, there’s a small group that has hijacked the Tana Bhagat motion, and indulged within the violence. However we nonetheless don’t know who they’re. Our investigation continues.”
In Kaima village, round 10 km from the district headquarters, a lot of the aged belonging to the Tana Bhagat sect and reside in 21 homes, are on the run. Three folks from the village, together with ABTBC secretary Bahadur Tana Bhagat, have been arrested. Sahbir Tana Bhagat, who mentioned he had participated in each protests, added he nonetheless can’t fathom how the protest turned violent.
“We comply with the god Dharmesh and imagine in non-violence, eat vegetarian meals cooked solely by members of our group… We imagine the fifth Schedule provisions usually are not adopted in lots of districts of Jharkhand, and had earlier gone to fulfill the Governor, and have submitted our petition even on the excessive court docket,” he mentioned.
The earlier district administration had gifted tractors to those communities “at authorities expense”, and had additionally reimbursed the charges of twenty-two Tana Bhagat college students—to the tune of Rs 6.8 lakh—who have been enrolled for a year-long certificates course in political science at Jharkhand’s Raksha Shakti College.
A supply within the administration mentioned, “After their protest on the rail tracks, the district administration linked sure schemes to the group and gave them 10 tractors without cost. Even then, they went forward and locked the premises of the collectorate constructing for 4 days. It will appear they’re being influenced by folks belonging to different tribal communities.”
A authorities supply mentioned: “The Tana Bhagats are demanding sovereignty, which is illogical. Within the Latehar violence, there was a transparent presence of individuals from exterior their sect. The federal government must look into the matter urgently, in order that it doesn’t blow up just like the Pathalgadi incident.”
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren informed The Indian Categorical: “We have now an in depth affiliation with Tana Bhagats. This group by no means acts like this [the violence in Latehar]. I’ve ordered officers to take up the problem with urgency… There seems to be some people who find themselves interfering and giving the sect a nasty identify.”
Tana Bhagats: The Origin Story
The Tana Bhagat sect was based by Jatra Oraon of Chipri Nawatoli within the Bishunpur space of Gumla, who claimed he had acquired a divine message from the Oraon god Dharmesh, and requested his followers to hitch the motion.
Within the seminal guide, Jharkhand: Itihaas evam Sanskriti by B. Virottam, one of many incidents associated to the Tana Bhagats, an Oraon spiritual sect that claims to comply with the “Gandhian lifestyle”, describes a violent facet of their lives. It refers back to the group’s participation within the 1942 Stop India Motion in Chotanagpur following Mahatma Gandhi’s name, and the setting on fireplace of Bishunpur Police Station in Gumla on August 18 by a bunch of Tana Bhagats, as a mark of their protest.
Professor Ramesh Sharan, the ex-VC of Vinoba Bhave College in Hazaribagh, and has been researching the Tana Bhagats in affiliation with the Tribal Analysis Institute in Ranchi, mentioned the Tana Bhagats have been later additionally influenced by Birsaits—a sect based by freedom fighter Birsa Munda as an agrarian agitation and anti-conversion motion in opposition to the British. He mentioned, “The issue is that they have remained scattered all through…They participated within the Ramgarh session of the Indian Congress that was attended by Mahatma Gandhi, and supported the Independence motion. The violent streak could be very unusual.”
He added that there was additionally an issue with the fifth Schedule. “It says tribal communities will perform as per their customary legal guidelines. However there is no such thing as a additional growth on the concept. So possibilities of a number of interpretations, even misinterpretations, stay. Plus, they appear to be wrongly influenced.” Hinting at a potential trigger behind the current actions of the sect, he additional mentioned: “There are 3,718 Tana Bhagats households with 22,676 members unfold throughout eight districts, however in Latehar alone, there are near 4,600.”
Questions of identification
Again in Kaima village, on the Upgraded Center College, there are 40 Tana Bhagat college students. Ravi Anand, the headmaster in-charge, mentioned due diligence is maintained to feed mid-day meals to Tana Bhagat youngsters. He mentioned: “Twice every week, we give eggs to different college students and fruits to Tana Bhagat college students, as they preserve a strict dietary code. The prepare dinner too belongs to the Tana Bhagat group. If somebody unintentionally touches their utensils, the Tana Bhagat college students refuse to eat. Solely 4 out of the 25 college students current on Friday ate our cooked mid-day meals, because the prepare dinner had gone to fulfill her husband, who was arrested within the Latehar violence.”
Anand additionally identified that from the land information the youngsters had submitted as caste certificates at college, he had discovered that the forefathers of a lot of those that carried Tana Bhagat as their surnames, had registered as Oraon up to now. He added: “The federal government wants to find out if they’re actually Tana Bhagats.”