By Er. Rajesh Pathak, Bhopal
Supreme Court recently dismissed the challenge to the Chhattisgarh High Court judgement, in which the installation of hoardings—which, notably, prohibited the entry of Christian padres and their likes indulging in conversion activities—by the Gram Sabhas of 8 tribal villages of some districts including Kanker was upheld as per law. Gram Sabhas had argued that this action was taken to stop religious conversion through coercion or allurements.
The Court concluded that the issue is related with the tribal’s cultural identity and social order. Notably, the local Gram-Sabha has the power to prohibit outsiders to protect their traditions under PESA-1996. There is nothing in that to be called in contravention of freedom of professing any religion or faith. Converting somebody’s religion no longer remains the matter of ‘religious preaching’ when this gets to be the cause of taking undue advantage of somebody’s deficiency or weakness of any kind. Article 25 is subject to higher ethics. It is the misuse of the article to convert the religion of anybody through material allurement. The prohibition, moreover, is meant for the entry of padres only, who are intended to organise events to bring about conversion.
Notably, PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act) was passed in Parliament in 1996 so that decentralization of democracy could happen in scheduled village areas. There are 10 states to come in the 5th Schedule of the Constitution—Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. In order to bring into force the provisions of PESA in the states, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj works as a nodal agency. This transfers the powers and rights straight to Gram-Sabha and Panchayats.
With the introduction of PESA, the recognition to traditional self-rule has come into being in the form of Gram-Sabha. Over the resources, the local control came to be increased; the exploitation by big companies is put under check; and the consent of Gram-Sabha is also made mandatory in case of displacement caused by any development project. The Gram-Sabha-based judicial system led to the empowerment of local people to exercise control over the natural produce, particularly in the collection of Tendupatta and other Laghu Vanopaj. This boosted their income as a result of it.
Not only the rights regarding water, forest and land, but also that of preserving tribal culture—the PESA consists of provisions in clear terms. It is upon this basis that the Supreme Court gave the judgement on the issue of religious conversion.
Since the inception of Sanatana Sanskruti, the place to carry on study and to undergo austerity had been the very abode of nature in the forest, in the proximity of the Janjati community (Scheduled Tribes). In the Ramayana period, we find kings from the Janjati community in plenty, even as Raja Ramchandra addressed Nishadraj Guha as Gurubhai. Then in the Mahabharata period we go through the super display of warfare by Ghatotkach, the son of Janjati community’s Devi Hidamba and Bheem of the Pandava clan. So the son of Ghatotkacha—that is Barbarik—is today worshipped as ‘Khatu Shyam’.
So as to raise the wall of defence around Somnath temple, the fearless Vegdaji Bheel of Dron Kingdom of Gujarat, along with another king Hamirji Gohil, led the army to launch a counter-attack on Muslim invaders. Martyred, his grave could be seen standing tall even today. Rana Punja Bheel, so also, with Maharana Pratap, emerged victorious in a decisive battle against Akbar. As a memorial of which, in the Mewar royal insignia there is displayed on one side the symbol of Bheel, and on the other, Rajput’s. Yet this is not all. Against the Mughals, the fury of the valiant fight displayed by Rani Durgawati had shown on no account that women belonging to the tribal community are lesser than their male counterparts.
The entire country remembers in awe the martyrdom of Birsa Munda, Tilka Manjhi and others in the fight against the British regime and the missionaries’ nexus indulged in converting Hindus through using pen, health service and education as weapons. Birsa Munda sacrificed his life opposing the missionaries and thereafter emerged to be held as ‘Bhagwan’ among the Janjati communities. This, however, was seen as a great obstacle in their mission by the missionaries. As an antidote, they adopted another Janjati boy when he was only 7. They cunningly named him Jaypal Munda so as to mislead innocent Janjati people. Thereafter they nursed him to be taught and grown amid the sheer missionary environment. They henceforth deputed him in the disservice of the Janjati community. More notably, if it weren’t for him there would be no necessity to launch the delisting drive.
Fortunately, now the Janjati community has begun to show that they will no longer tolerate onslaught on their Sanatana roots by the missionaries. However, what has been done in Chhattisgarh is needed to be emulated in other parts of the country infested with anti-Sanatana forces under different denominations.
