Patna:
The Statesman has published an alarming and mischievous report (Sept 27) from its Patna correspondent saying that the tribals of the Chaibasa region have raised the demand for a separate nation for Kolhan and its representatives have left for the UNO to seek its intervention. The report adds that this Chaibasa-based “secessionist movement” is supported by foreign missionaries.
The report has neither given the name of the persons who reportedly left for the UNO nor the foreign missionaries. We tried to contact some tribal leaders in the Chaibasa area to verify the report but it was found to be totally false and baseless. The report says: The underground movement for an independent sovereign State for Kolhan took a new turn with two “legal advisers” of the self-styled Kolhan Government reportedly leaving for the UN and the Commonwealth headquarters recently to place their case before the international authorities. The Kolhan area comprises the predominantly tribal regions of Bihar centering round the old Chaibasa subdivision. The secessionists’ case is that the Kolhan area had “never merged with the Indian Union during or after the transfer of power by the British Government”. Official sources here confirmed that some anti-national elements had been engaged in subversive activities in some pockets of Chota nagpur. But they did not confirm if the “legal advisers” of the self-styled Kolhan Government had slipped out of the country. The sources said that some tribals, aided and abetted by a few foreign missionaries had been trying to build up a secessionist movement in and around Chaibasa, the report adds. However it is true that the Bihar tribals are more militant than the untouchables and the stunning progress achieved by their counterparts in North-Eastern India is held as a model to the rest of the tribals. No doubt missionaries are active in the area but there is no evidence to their encouraging secessionist activities. They are demanding only a separate Jharkhand State. Meanwhile, the Tripura tribals have stepped up their agitation for an autonomous district council for the tribal areas of the State under the 6th Schedule of the Constitution. They are not happy with the CPM-led Government’s efforts at suppressing the tribal culture.
