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Indian government accused of attacking tribal identity 

Rebranding a university deliberately alienates indigenous communities
Indian government accused of attacking tribal identity 

Tribal artists performing at World Indigenous Day in New Delhi in this file photo. Tribal leaders say the pro-Hindu government's policies in Jharkhand state are aimed at destroying their identity. (ucanews.com photo)

Published: May 05, 2017 05:10 AM GMT
Updated: May 05, 2017 05:41 AM GMT

Student protests continue in the eastern Indian Jharkhand state after the government renamed a college after a Hindu nationalist, a move church activists say was done to dismantle the identity of indigenous people.

The government move was "totally unacceptable and we condemn it," said Bishop Vincent Barwa of Simdega, chairman of the Indian bishops' office for tribal people.

The protest began after the government, run by the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), re-named the state's premier Ranchi College to Doctor Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University on April 17.

Mukherjee (1901–1953) was a Hindu who founded the nationalist Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951. Mukherjee is considered an ideologue of the pro-Hindu nationalist movement that was a precursor to the BJP.

With BJP in power in New Delhi and most states in northern India, Hindu groups have become emboldened and stepped up their action to establish a Hindu hegemony, ignoring the cultures and well being of tribal and Dalit people among them, their leaders allege.

Bishop Barwa said people from elsewhere may not fully grasp the ramifications of the decision and consequences for the life and identify of the state's tribal communities.

The move pushes Hindu hegemony on people, "as they did not even consider changing the name to one of several tribal heroes who sacrificed their lives to protect indigenous land and identity," said the bishop, who comes from the Oraon tribe.

In the past two weeks, hundreds of tribal students took to the streets to protest. They accused the BJP government of propagating right-wing Hindu ideology.

Tribal student leader Akash Kacchap told ucanews.com they wanted the college renamed after a local hero. "Is it too much to demand that? This government is rigid and busy propagating pro-Hindu ideologies and pushing it on tribal people," he said.

Jharkhand state was created by carving out tribal-dominated areas of Bihar state 17 years ago, purportedly to protect the interests of indigenous communities that make up 26 percent of state's 33 million people. Christian missionaries began working in the region some 150 years ago.

About 1.5 million people in the state are currently Christians, most of them tribal people, and at least half are Catholics. Although missioneries started formal education a century ago, the government runs all nine universities in the state.

Founded in 1926, Ranchi College was made a university in 2015, making it the first college in the state to become a university. It has some 4,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Anabel Benjamin Bara, from the Jesuit-managed Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur told ucanews.com that the government's move is "not surprising as it furthers the agenda of destroying tribal identity and clearing the path for others to rule and loot tribal people."

In November 2016, the government changed two laws to help the state take over traditional tribal lands for development projects, to the fury of tribal people.

Bara said changing the names of public places will make people eventually accept the characters as historical leaders. The college name may be a "very small incident but the message is clear. They want to kill tribal identity," he said.

Gladson Dungdung, a tribal activist, said the government has been following an anti-tribal policy to help industrialists plunder the state. "First the land rights of the tribals were taken away. Then they invited industries to invest in the state without consulting with indigenous people who are ultimately the protectors and owners of the land."

Dungdung said that the "time has come for tribal people to unite and fight for their right before it becomes too late."

Mukti Prakash Tirkey, editor of a weekly on indigenous affairs, said changing the name was "very serious" as it would force tribal people to think they belong to the wrong society. "When your house name is changed to one obviously unfamiliar to you it may confuse your identity," he said.

"Government policy is to displace tribal people in order to exploit the mineral rich state," Tirkey added.

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