Are you all okay? I convey my warm regards to you for coming here together, said chief minister Mamata Banerjee in local language on Wednesday.

The CM greeted the thrilled gathering in local dialect and the vibrant crowd reciprocated in chorus in the tribal heartland today.

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In Khatra, her party had won three Assembly seats in the 2021 election out of Trinamul Congress’s aggregate success in the district. Considering the exodus of the tribal vote in favour of the saffron front in 2019, a veteran politician, Mamata spared no chance to woo the tribal community, besides filling the gap with the ancient Junglemahal residents like the Kurmis, Lodha & Sabar, Bauri and Bagdi communities. The office bearers of West Bengal Adivasi Development and Cultural Board, Lodha Sabar Board, Bauri Bagdi Development Board were accommodated on the dais that also had the presence of Reverend Simon Mandi, Anthony Albert Suresh, George Panam T, Samuel Nadu – the Fathers from five distinct churches of Junglemahal.

Bankura, according to the 2011 Census, has 0.13 per cent Christians. Besides, among the Bauris and Bagdis, 0.16 per cent have converted to Christianity. Mamata said, “After we assumed power, the Junglemahal people are living in peace and harmony.” She was seen beating dhamsa (tribal drum). She said, “I’ve composed poems in Santali too. I’m trying to become more at ease with Santali. I used to chant Jai Johar from time to time.”

Mamata Banerjee was addressing Khorbona, a place close to Mukutmanipur, the region considered as the home of tribes like Santal, Bhumij, Sardar and Munda.

The Kurmi agitation remains a long-standing issue. However, Miss Banerjee assumed, needs to be addressed as per the given rules framed to recognize their Scheduled Tribe entity, but the state government has a limited role in it.

The FRA status in Bengal stands dismal with just 686 community forest resource rights being recognized, the officials said. Banerjee said: “No tribal land will be encroached or acquired, so long we are in power.” She then raised the issue of giving religious status to Sari and Sarna practiced by the Santhals and the Adivasis. Santhals of Bankura, Purulia, Hooghly, twin Burdwan districts practice Sari Dharam, but their counterparts in Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh have declared themselves as followers of Sarna Dharam. On 19 November, 2021, the Jharkhand Assembly had passed a resolution seeking inclusion of Sarna as a separate religion.

Banerjee said today, “We’ve set to gear up mass movement if Sari and Sarna are not given separate religious status.”