West Bengal: Kurmis call off agitation after meeting with official

The Kurmi leaders in West Bengal on Sunday called off the agitation in Bengal’s Purulia and West Midnapore districts, however, their supporters continued and even began a fresh protest, officials said.

After meeting the district magistrate of Purulia on Sunday morning, Ajit Mahato, convenor of the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj, said: “We were given a letter that asked us to discuss our demands with the chief secretary on April 10. I returned the letter saying it was an eyewash. We were given similar assurances last year as well. Our movement will continue but we are lifting the blockade for the time being.”

The blockade at Khemasuli in West Midnapore was lifted around 8pm, Aditya Chowdhury, chief public relations officer, South-Eastern railway, told the media on Sunday. According to South-Eastern railway officials, as many as 496 local and long-distance trains were cancelled since the blockade.

The Kurmis want the state government to send a report to the Centre justifying their demand.

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Since April 5, several organisations belonging to the Kurmi community observed protests as they blocked railway tracks and roads demanding the inclusion of the Kurmi community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list. The blockades were held at Khemasuli in West Midnapore and Kustaur in Purulia.

While several Kurmis cleared railway tracks and roads at Kustaur where Mahato was present, community leaders monitoring the blockade at Khemasuli refused to budge.

A section of Kurmis blocked Kotshila railway junction and the Purulia-Ranchi inter-state highway on Sunday afternoon, a police officer from Purulia said. However, they said that they will relax the agitation from 11pm to 6am and from 10am to 7pm on Monday for the convenience of the people.

The Kurmis have been raising the demand for inclusion in the ST list for a long time and have held several agitations in recent years. Road and rail movements were affected in August and September last year as well.

The community has also demanded the inclusion of the Kurmali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and wants the Sarna, which is quite distinct from Hinduism, to be recognized by the Constitution as a separate religion.

Also Read: West Bengal: Roads, trains blockade by Kurmi community leaves thousands stranded

Followers of Sarna worship nature instead of idols. In 2020, the Jharkhand assembly passed a special resolution and sent it to the Centre, seeking a separate religious code for the tribal population.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national vice-president Dilip Ghosh criticised the blocked by the community and said the state government should take necessary steps to resolve the issue at the earliest.

“The blockade is causing huge inconvenience. This is not the way to take a movement forward,” said Ghosh.