Ranchi, Oct. 31: Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram had to face the wrath of Sarnas today for a four-month old comment wherein he had apparently equated this religion with Hinduism.
Around 300 tribals, armed with black flags and banners, descended in the capital from different parts of the state to vent their ire and demand an apology from the minister for hurting the sentiment of the community people, who have for long been demanding a separate religion code for Sarna.
Under the aegis of Adivasi Sarna Mahasabha, the protesters assembled outside the state guesthouse near Morabadi around 10am to show black flags to the minister. However, police swung into action and arrested over 100 protesters to clear the way for Oram, who was scheduled to go to Gumla to inaugurate a fair.
Lalpur OC Animesh Kumar Gupta said that the tribals were arrested to prevent any untoward incident. "They were kept at the Astroturf stadium camp jail and released in the afternoon on personal bond," he added.
The OC, however, maintained that stir was peaceful.
Later, Mahasabha leader and former Mandar MLA Dev Kumar Dhan said that followers of the Sarna religion were not happy with the statement made by Oram at an event in Jamshedpur four months ago.
"If Jainism, having a population of hardly 60 lakh, can have a separate religion code in the Census forms, why can't Sarnas? This tribal religion have more than 10 crore followers spread over the Fifth Scheduled states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharastra, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Odisha. Instead of taking steps to ensure a separate religion code, he is saying Sarnas are Hindus," Dhan alleged.
Dhan added that the RSS maintained that Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism were all parts of Hinduism. "Then why have they been given separate codes in the Census forms?" he asked.
Oram could not be contacted for his comment. However, a BJP leader, who accompanied him, said the minister stood by his statement. "Sarna ka jo puja karte hain woh bhi Hindu hi hai (those who worship Sarna (nature) too are Hindus)," the leader quoted Oram as saying at the event in Gumla later in the day.
