Tribals protest against the ritual of atonement

Hundreds of tribals marched in protest in Balurghat town on Tuesday, demanding steps against Trinamul leaders instrumental in making four tribal women perform an atonement ritual of “dandi” last Friday for briefly joining the BJP.

The protesters with bows, arrows, sickles, axes and other traditional weapons assembled at the local high school ground in the afternoon. From there, they took the march across town up to the district magistrate’s office.

“The police are complacent in this case. Four women of our community were insulted and forced to perform the ritual by some Trinamul leaders. We want stringent steps against these people who were involved in this atrocious act. It is surprising that police have not arrested anyone,” said Rabin Hansda, a representative of Dakshin Dinajpur Adivasi Joutha Mancha.

Members demonstrated in front of the DM’s office and also near Balurghat police station for around one-and-a-half hours to train guns at Mamata Banerjee’s party.

They said that a number of Trinamul leaders like Rajib Banerjee, Mukul Roy, Arjun Singh and Biplab Mitra had walked into the BJP camp and later returned to Trinamul, but no one was asked to atone for it.

“Does the party leadership make any of them perform such a ritual of atonement? Trinamul often speaks of tribals but so far, not a single tribal MLA is a cabinet minister. To woo us, some tribal leaders are ministers of state,” said a demonstrator.

Protesters also referred to Pradipta Chakraborty, who was the district president of Trinamul women’s wing in South Dinajpur when this ritual took place. Chakraborty was removed from her post on Sunday after the state leadership came to know that she had been involved in conducting the atonement ritual.

“However, Chakraborty still remains the vice-chairperson of Balurghat municipality. She should be asked to resign immediately from this post for humiliating tribals. The police should also take steps against her,” Hansda said.

During the protests, police were deployed to keep the situation under control. A police picket has been deployed in the village of the four women who performed the atonement ritual.

“An officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police is investigating the case. For now, we are gathering information,” said a senior police officer.