Threat to Tribal Identity

New Delhi, Feb. 21 : Mindless violence, arson, looting and killing of people followed a gruesome rape and murder of an innocent minor girl in Jhabua on January 11. It was reported that a young man working for an insurance company in the precincts of the Catholic Church in Jhabua, was responsible for the heinous crime, and the police have also established his identity. Yet, some of the organizations spearheading anti-Christian movement in and around Jhabua have not accepted the fact and still continue to press on with their demand of naming the Christian religious personnel behind the crime.

This unfortunate event was so unabashedly used by some vested interests to create mayhem in Jhabua. Christian religious personnel were intimidated and assaulted; their property destroyed and thus created panic among the members of the minority community over there. It is ironical that some of these groups claim themselves to be champions of Tribal development in Jhabua area.

It is quite amazing to note that the Tribals, who have been living on the edge of Indian society for millennia have, in the last one decade or so, found favor with the Sangh affiliated organizations. The Sangh Organizations' new found love for Tribals can only be comprehended from their extreme anxiety to retain a hold on the life of the Tribal community, that has been slowly but steadily taking its own course of development through the constant efforts of Christian and other social and charitable organizations working for their welfare. In fact, it is mainly due to efforts of the Christian organizations that majority of the Tribals of the central and north India could have access to modern education, health care and other social benefits.
If there are a number of Tribals working in the central and state government services today, it can legitimately be said that majority of have passed through the portals of one Christian institution or another. Tribals have begun to realize and assert themselves for their the long denied rights of social equality and economic justice in this country.

Irrespective of the fact that our country is governed by a constitution that has clearly spelt out the need to build a socially equitable and economically just society, some sections of Indians, particularly the Tribals, have been left behind almost to ludicrous levels from reaching such goals. It is this lacuna that must be addressed by all concerned in this country. And if Christian organizations have stepped in to address their genuine problems, met their bare minimum needs, then such efforts are to be lauded.

The entire efforts of Sangh affiliated organizations, regrettably, are to present these yeomen services rendered by various Christian organizations as dubious means to destroy the tribal culture and traditions. Quite the contrary. In fact, it is the Christian organizations that have contributed immensely to the preservation and promotion of indigenous cultures and traditions. This is borne out by the fact that Tribal cultures have been chronicled by reputed Christian Anthropologists and sociologists, created written script for their languages, established cultural centers, produced literature and encouraged arts forms. Because the indigenous cultures are inalienable part of the national ethos, they should be preserved with utmost care.

It is this distinctive Tribal identity that is under tremendous threat today from some of the Sangh Organizations that have been spearheading their tentacles in Tribal areas. They claim, erroneously of course, that Triabls in India have always been a part of the Hindu society and that they have in course of time alienated themselves from the mainline Hindu society and ethos. Noting is far from truth. The Triabls have always maintained their distinctiveness in their language, customs, manners, religious beliefs and rituals. They do not share in the Vedic deities and rituals, nor do they have languages based on or influenced by Sanskrit.

By erasing the Tribals' distinctive identity and clubbing them together with the Hindu society is tantamount to destroying their age-old culture and ethos. And that this is done in the subtlest way by utilizing religion as a shield is most worrisome. It is this grant scheme of obliterating the distinctive identity of a sizable section of Indian society that needs to be challenged by those who still care to see value in those that are different from them.