New Delhi:
Far, far away from Khalistan activists or from north-eastern insurgents, a small but determined section of what is known as the “Kolhan tribals” is trying to carve out an “independent nation” in a remote corner of Bihar near Jamshedpur.
These tribals have under the banner of the Kolhan Raksha Samiti, designed their own “national flag” and reportedly sent their representatives to the British Commonwealth Secretariat and the United Nations headquarters to lobby for independence. They have also asked their followers to celebrate “Independence Day” on Sept. 21, 1982. They propose to take their case to the International Court of Justice and set up a university that would be affiliated to Oxford University and not to any Indian university.
Although the movement intensified on March 30, 1981, when the leaders of the Kolhan Raksha Samiti held an exclusive meeting of tribals at Chaibasa, we have been able to piece together this story only now. The March meeting was attended by over 4,000 hard-core tribals. The meeting was addressed among others, by Narayan Janko “founder” of the Samiti and Puis Tirkey, Member of Parliament from West Bengal. Almost all the speakers, according to the State Home Ministry sources, repeatedly hammered the point that freedom prevails where Wilkinson rules exist. Explaining the significance of Captain Wilkinson’s rules, they said that the real administration of the “Kolhan State” was in the hands of Mankis and Mundas (village headmen and tribal chieftains) in accordance with the law of the land. (Statesman, Dec. 12)
