‘They are forcing us to become Hindu’. Jeetrai
Hansda, an Adivasi college teacher in Jamshedpur, is being threatened with
disciplinary action for a social media post about eating beef.
“Dear comrades, can anyone tell me where I can buy
beef in Jamshedpur?” wrote Jeetrai Hansda in Hindi. “I want to organise a beef
party.” This two-sentence Facebook post set off a storm in Jamshedpur. Right
wing groups such as the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Bharatiya
Janata Party’s student wing were aghast that a teacher – Jeetrai Hansda taught
drama at the Graduate School College for Women in the town – not only ate beef,
he had the gall to advertise the fact publicly. Jeetrai Hansda had posted this
status on June 1 as a protest against the beef hysteria gripping the country as
well as his home state of Jharkhand. “As a Santhali, eating beef is part of my
culture,” explained Jeetrai Hansda. “If Santhalis are Indian, there should be
no laws which force us to adopt Hindu customs. I reject that.”
While the impact of the hysteria against beef on
Muslims and even Dalits has been well documented, its effect on Jharkhand’s
Adivasis hasn’t. In Jharkhand, the issue of beef is being subtly used by Hindutva
organisations to put pressure on Adivasis and influence them in ways that will
benefit the BJP politically.
Jharkhand passed its cow slaughter law in 2005
that penalises illegal cow slaughter and transport with a term of up to 10 years.
While it has now been overtaken by states such as Gujarat (which now awards a
life sentence for cow slaughter), at the time, Jharkhand had one of the
harshest cow slaughter laws in the Union – a highly ironic state of affairs
given that Jharkhand was created in 2000 as a home for Adivasis, for whom beef
is an everyday part of their diet.
“When the law was passed we did not realise the
impact it would have on society,” said Raimul Bandra, a member of the Ho
community and a member of the Bindra Institute for Research Study and Action, a
Jharkhandi nongovernmental organisation which works on Adivasi welfare. “Beef
has always been a part of diet. Most Adivasis eat it since it is such a cheap
meat.”
Jeetrai Hansda explained that for the Adivasis,
the issue wasn’t even limited to food. “We not only eat beef, cattle sacrifice
is a part of the Santhal festival of Doson. Even the Mundas sacrifice cattle,”
he said. “Any ban on beef is an attack on our culture. This law forces Hindu
customs on us.”
This clash between the cow slaughter law and
Adivasi religious practices was bought to the fore in 2015, as a Munda village
conducted a Dangri Puja (cattle worship) that entailed the sacrifice of an ox.
Conflict with the area’s Hindus meant that the police – under pressure from the
local BJP – booked eight Adivasis under Jharkhand’s anti-slaughter law.
In the same year, the law also led to tension in
the Santhal community as BJP member and former Lok Sabha MP Salkhan Murmu – a
Santhal himself – tried to stop Adivasis from sacrificing cattle in the village
of Karandih in East Singhbhum district. “Murmu threatened us with the anti-cow
slaughter law on the Santhali festival of Doson,” recounted Dasmath Hansda, a
traditional Santhal leader of Jugsalai town, very close to Jamshedpur. “The
whole village, though, stood as one for their religion and we sacrificed the
animal anyway. Murmu had to relent.”
Adivasis are also being disadvantaged in their
work places on the question of beef. On June 25, a principal of a school in
Jharkhand’s Pakur district was arrested for allegedly cooking beef at the
institute on the accusation of her own students.
Jeetrai Hansda is also under investigation by his
college for posting the beef status on Facebook, facing a show cause notice
from the administration. “This is unfair. How can the college penalise me for
what I eat as part of my traditional diet,” he argued. “I fear there may be
disciplinary action against me for my post. The entire university has been
coloured saffron.”
In Ranchi, Asha Sanga, a Munda, complained that
the beef hysteria is hitting the Adivasi livelihood. “My brother, Durga Munda
is scared to come to Ranchi’s markets from our village and sell his goats,”
Sanga complained. “He has heard instances of Bajrang Dal members beating up
people and stealing their animals. He will not be able to bear the loss.” Like
Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand had also cracked down hard on the selling of meat
without a license, hurting Adivasis who sell chickens and goats to butchers.
Bineet Mundu, who works with a Ranchi-based
nongovernmental organisation that lobbies for Adivasi land rights, explained
that the BJP has long tried to play the religion card to enter Adivasis areas.
“The BJP exploited and even encouraged tensions between converted [Christian]
and non-converted Adivasis,” explained Mundu. “The BJP uses these divisions to
enter villages. Today beef is yet another way to achieve that objective.” The
entry of Hindutva into Adivasi villages means the BJP can woo non-Christian
Adivasis with much more ease. The taboo on beef, in turn, helps strengthen this
polarisation.
Explains Gopi Ghosh, a human rights activist with
the Bindra Institute for Research Study and Action: “Given the BJP’s emphasis
on it, some Adivasi communities are now getting Hinduised and have stopped
eating beef.”
The impact of Hindutva on the Adivasis of
Jharkhand is helped by the fact that the BJP has enjoyed state power in
Jharkhand. Out of the 16 years that have elapsed since the state was formed,
BJP leaders have been chief ministers for more than 10.
Jharkhand’s inordinate emphasis on the cow and
various forms of meat is yet another example of how elite interests have taken
control of Jharkhand – a state created explicitly in order to protect the
rights of Adivasis.
“Jharkhand is an Adivasi state,” explained KC
Mardi, a local leader in the Karandi neighbourhood of Jamshedpur town. “Our
culture, food and festivals are different from the Hindus. Thus, to force us to
follow the Hindu taboo on beef is outrageous. They are forcing us to become
Hindu.”
Dasmath Hansda also questioned the legal validity
of the cow slaughter law. “How can this law be implemented in a Fifth Schedule
area such as this when it clashes with Adivasis practises?” he asked
rhetorically. Under the Fifth Schedule of the Indian constitution, Union and
state laws, which conflict with traditional practises, have to be amended when
being applied to Adivasis areas.
“At the end of the day, beef is just one example
of this. Look at how the CNT [Chotanagpur Tenancy] Act is being amended to help
outsiders to grab our [Adivasi] land,” remarked KC Mardi with a wry smile. “We
are being attacked by outsiders in our own state.”
https://scroll.in/article/842948/they-are-forcing-us-to-become-hindu-how-beef-is-being-used-to-target-adivasis-in-jharkhand
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