Majoritarian agenda threatens Adivasi identity and rights, says CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat
Brinda Karat critiques the Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM) and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, RSS progeny, for their majoritarian agenda targeting Adivasi identity and faith. The JSM demands delisting Adivasi communities converted to Christianity from ST status, citing the Presidential Order of 1950 for Scheduled Castes. Karat argues this ignores the foundational distinction that Adivasi identity is not religion-based, as upheld by the Patna High Court in 1963. She highlights JSM's coercive tactics, such as forced exhumations and exclusion from community festivals, to prove Adivasis abandon their culture upon conversion. She also criticizes the cooption campaign asserting Adivasis as part of the "sanatan parivar" and Home Minister Amit Shah's endorsement of this agenda, while ignoring urgent issues like Forest Rights Act sabotage and corporate takeovers.
Key Points
- Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM) and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram advocate delisting Christian Adivasis from Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
- This demand is based on the Presidential Order of 1950 for Scheduled Castes, which links identity to religion.
- Adivasi identity is fundamentally not religion-based, as established by the Patna High Court in 1963.
- JSM employs coercive methods like forced exhumations and exclusion to assert that converted Adivasis abandon their culture.
- The article criticizes the "sanatan parivar" cooption campaign and the government's neglect of Adivasi rights concerning land, forests, and resources.
Exam Facts
- Organisations: Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM), Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (RSS progeny).
- Presidential Order of 1950 (for Scheduled Castes).
- Patna High Court ruling in 1963 (on Oraon community).
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
- Birsa Munda's Ulgulan, Forest Rights Act, PESA.
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