Bhuyan tribal community of Sundargarh district has criticized Sundargarh MP and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram for his recent alleged remark that Bhuyan community does not belong to ST category.
The Bhuyan community in an emergency meeting at the district headquarters town of Sundargarh on Saturday strongly condemned the reported remark of Oram and announced to launch a district wide agitation against him. The Union Minister, on the other hand, in a Press meet at Rourkela on Saturday evening claimed that he was being misquoted.
According to sources, Bhuyan, a leading tribal community of the district, has strong presence in Sundargarh and therefore, enjoys the electoral importance in the district. Gangadhar Pradhan, president of Bhuyan Samaj, presided over the meeting. Former Chief Minister and former Sundargarh MP Hemananda Biswal, sitting Talsara MlA Prafulla Majhi and sitting Sundargarh Sadar MlA Jogesh Singh graced the occasion as guest in this meeting.
“In the meeting, besides strongly condemning the recent remark of Jual Oram that our Bhuyan community does not belong to Scheduled Tribe, we have taken a resolution to organize a grand rally on September 26 at Sundargarh to express our protest over his remark,” warned Pradhan.
The leaders of Bhuyan community also claimed that they would also draw the attention of the State Governor DR SC Jamir, President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the matter.
“I have never made any remark that Bhuyans are not tribals. But, I had received allegation that Hemgiri Zamindar Sunil Singhdeo, Kuanrmunda Zamindar Sanjib Pratap Singhdeo and Sargipalli Zamindar Jogesh Singh belong to Khandayat Bhuyans and not to tribal Bhuyans,” Oram said.
“Personally inquiring into the matter, I came to understand that these three leaders are in fact Khandayat Bhuyans but have managed to get fake caste certificate as tribal Bhuyans and on that basis have been contesting elections as MlA and MP under reserved ST seats,” Oram added.
He further informed that since their attempts are to deprive the tribal Bhuyans of their rights, I had written to conduct an inquiry to the ST Commission, following which an inquiry has been going on, Oram informed.
Significantly, with Panchayat election round the corner, the Bhuyan Samaj row is likely to grow further.