Mamata Banerjee's Santhal Manifesto Sparks Debate

Kolkata: The election manifesto released by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Santhali language and Ol Chiki script, in West Medinipur, Bankura and Burdwan, has fueled a debate whether the Bengali majority patronizes the community.

Mamata’s releasing of the manifesto in Santhali language is being seen just as a move aimed at securing the tribal votes. Santhals form the largest tribe in Bengal’s tribal demographic of 7.8 per cent; a third of the population in these three districts is Santhal. Santhali was listed as an official language in 2003 when it entered the Eighth Schedule. West Bengal recognized it as a language in 1979. Immediately after taking charge, Mamata’s government began schools with this language as the medium. In its new manifesto, it has promised a new syllabus with Oi Chiki until class X in the state board.

But Mamata’s claims have often been questioned by the community. The existing tribal schools in the area don’t have enough teachers to teach in the language. The course material remains in Bengali, merely written in the Ol Chiki script.

Protests against the government had broken out in West Medinipur when the subsidized tribal schools were handed over to the Ramakrishna Mission. These Eklavya schools are funded by the Centre in West Bengal and it spends Rs 4,200 every month on each school. Sukumar Hansda, Minister for Tribal Development, had denied allegations saying that this was an attempt to “Hinduise” the tribals and said the decision had to do with “unsatisfactory results”.

Stressing on cultural independence, Niytananda Hembram, head of Bharat-Jakat Majhi Pargana Mahal, the highest body of the Santhal community in four states, said: “Bengalis still think of us as an extension, of them, an inferior one.” Incidentally, he is a Trinamool candidate from Jhargram in 2004. “A manifesto in our language can’t be a quick fix solution,” he further added.