Odisha: Kudumi community demands tribal tag

BHUBANESWAR: Thousands of people from Kudumi community staged a massive rally at lower PMG here on Friday demanding tribal status to their community. Now they are coming under other backward caste (OBC) category.
The protestors, who came in a procession starting from Bhubaneswar railway station to Lower PMG here, alleged that the Central government excluded them from scheduled tribe list in 1950.During the rally, they had a faceoff with the police while the former tried to rush towards barricade.
“We still do not know why the government dropped us from the ST category. We demand re-inclusion of our community in the list,” said Jaimuni Kumar Mohanta, president of Kudumi Sena Odisha.
He said around 25 lakh Kudumi people are staying in different districts of Odisha including Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Balasore, Angul, Jajpur, Sundargarh and Sambalpur and neighbouring states like Jharkhand and West Bengal. “We have been deprived of the quota facility during last 68 years. As a result of which, our youths do not get good education and jobs,” he added.
Before this rally, the Kudumi people had staged similar demonstrations twice near the state assembly demanding tribal status. “The state government should recommend the Centre to include us in the ST category. Last year, top officials from chief minister’s office had assured us to take up the issue with the Centre, but nothing is materialized yet,” said Mohanta.
A delegation of Kudumi leaders met chief minister Naveen Patnaik and urged him to help them. “He said the state government will take up the issue,” said Mohanta added.
On March 11, the community had organised a big rally at Baripada on the issue. Patidar movement leader Hardik Patel had addressed the rally.