Members of the Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan (save democracy campaign) — a collective effort of right outfits — has reminded newly elected Congress MP from Khunti, Kalicharan Munda, to raise voice against ‘anti-tribal’ policies of BJP-led Centre being carried out in the constituency.

Incidentally, Khunti, the birthplace of tribal icon Birsa Munda, had been the focus of BJP and saw Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching nationwide Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra in November last year. However, Kalicharan Munda defeated state tribal leader and former chief minister Arjun Munda who had been the Union agriculture and tribal affairs minister by over 1.49 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha polls.

“We had campaigned for the Congress candidate for over one year and made people aware of the anti-tribal and anti-people policies of the Narendra Modi-led Centre in Khunti constituency.

“So we met the MP on Monday and reminded him to raise voice against such policies in the Parliament and oppose it from sadak (road) to sadan (Parliament),” said tribal rights activist Baa Singh Munda.

The delegation focused the attention of the MP on many policies and schemes of the Modi government which should be cancelled immediately.

“Anti-tribal policies like Land Ownership Card Project, Forest Protection Act Amendment 2023 and Commercial Mining Policy should be cancelled. The Bharatmala Project (road infrastructure as part of economic corridors) being built in the area without the consent of the Gram Sabha should be stopped immediately.

“No such project should be implemented in the constituency which violates the constitutional rights of the tribals and to which the Gram Sabha has not given its consent,” the delegation urged the MP.

“Implementation of the three new criminal laws should be stopped immediately. The main objective of these repressive anti-people laws is to establish an undemocratic police rule.

“The MP should also demand immediate completion of the census pending since 2011 in Parliament. Due to the delay, crores of people are deprived of many rights and schemes,” the delegation reminded the MP.

The delegation demanded that the Sarna religion code (a separate religion code
for tribal in the decadal census) should be implemented and all tribal languages including Mundari, Ho, Kudukh should be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

“In Khunti and Simdega districts (both coming under the Parliamentary constituency), tribal lands have been transferred to non-tribals in violation of CNT law. The land is being traded by land brokers all around Khunti city and land is being occupied illegally. This should be stopped immediately and the occupied land should be returned,” the delegation further demanded.

“The camps of security forces forcibly established in many schools in the Lok Sabha constituency should be removed immediately and a time limit should be fixed for removing every camp established without the consent of the Gram Sabha and attacks on religious minorities in the area should be stopped,” it requested.

It also sought for establishing a special cell to support employment at local employment to prevent migration and human trafficking and opening of MP offices in every vidhan sabha so that locals can easily convey problems to the MP.

INDIA bloc won all the five ST reserved Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand in the recent election.