Salkhan Murmu (right) releases a Santhali book in Jamshedpur on Friday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Jan. 28: The Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP) has decided to intensify its agitation for declaring Santhali as an official language of Jharkhand under Article 345 of the Constitution.

Former MP and JDP national president Salkhan Murmu said here today that tribals from five states — Assam, Orissa, Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar — would assemble in the steel city on January 30 to participate in a rally at Gopal Maidan. “We are expecting a gathering of about 50,000 people from the five states. At the rally, we will pass a resolution for declaring Santhali as the first official language of the state,” Murmu said at a news meet at his residence in Kadma.

According to Murmu, sizeable proportions of population in all five states speak Santhali. “In spite of the fact that Santhali was included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution, successive state governments have failed to give it due recognition. Santhali should get a status on a par with other languages such as Bengali and Oriya,” he said.

The executive body of the JDP, at a meeting today, also decided to call a rail chakka jam in all five states on April 1 in support of their demand. The JDP had organised a massive rally at Rani Rashmoni Avenue in Calcutta on December 27 last year to raise their demands including official recognition to Santhali and Sarna — a religious belief held by tribes in Jharkhand.

At the news meet, Murmu also released a book on Santhali language, written by Birsa Murmu, director of the All India Santhali Education Council — a registered trust imparting education in Santhali in five states under the Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou).