Former MP from Nabarangpur and senior BJD leader Pradeep Majhi and his family members have been ostracised from the Bhatra Samaj, a tribal community, for marrying a woman from a non-tribal family. The tribal community believes that inter-caste marriage is a breach of tradition.
Samaj vice-president Gopal Pujari stated, “Majhi went against the norms of the tribal community. We learned that Pradeep tied the knot with a non-tribal woman in Goa. Pradeep and his family have disregarded the tribal community’s sentiments. Our community members convened and decided to boycott them. We have decided to ostracise him socially for 12 years.”
Majhi’s family has faced trouble before. “Earlier, Pradeep organised his sister’s marriage to a Brahmin boy. They are consistently defying the tribal norms. We will boycott his family for the next 12 years. We will not attend any of their family programmes. We held a meeting of the central committee of the Bharat Samaj, where the decision was made to boycott the Majhi family,” said another vice-president of the Samaj, Rama Bhatra.
Pradeep, 49, married Sushree Sangita Sahu, a non-tribal woman from the state’s coastal belt, Kendrapara. The marriage was solemnised in Goa on Wednesday.
The Majhi family has yet to react to the social boycott. The youth leader was elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Nabarangpur on a Congress ticket in 2009. In 2021, he quit Congress and joined the BJD.