Ranchi, March 14: The leaders were breathing fire, but the akrosh (fury) was visibly missing among the gathering — men, women and children.

As Adivasi Chhatra Sangh leaders spit venom against powers for conspiring to curtail their rights at the Adivasi Akrosh Maharally at Morabadi grounds today, the gullible participants were more busy doing other work than listen to the leaders.

Sample this: Balaram Munda arrived from Ormanjhi along with other villagers in a jeep to attend the rally. But instead of attending it, he headed straight to his daughter’s place to see his grandson for the first time. Pleading ignorance why this rally is being organised, he confessed that since a vehicle was provided by the organisers, he availed the opportunity.

Like Balaram, Panki Oraon from Lohardaga boarded a train in morning along with others in the village. After staying at the ground for some time, he proceeded to meet his son, working in a private firm.

Unlike their leaders, these tribals were completely unaware of the fact that the reserved seats for Schedule Tribes in Parliament and Assembly are in the process of getting reduced. Nor were they aware that Ranchi and Jamshedpur are being brought outside the purview of the schedule area, which, in turn could mean that non-tribals would be able to buy their adivasi land.

With the state-of-the-art new sports complex coming up, it was a unique opportunity for the youths to see how things were shaping up. “Such a big playing ground is coming up in the city!” exalted Deepak Birua, a tribal youth from West Singhbhum who had come to the city along with his friends.

The Morabadi road was chock-a-bloc with two-wheelers, three-wheelers, buses, trucks and tractors.

Raising pro-tribal slogans, the rallists marched to the meeting venue. At some places they even targeted private vehicles and broke glass panes.

“Such rallies give us opportunities to educate the adivasis about the state and evil designs of our opponents to subjugate our community. We are confident that they would go enlightened after attending the rally,” said the president of the organisation, Chamra Linda.