Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has accused the BJP of poisoning the mind of tribals and Jains over the Parasnath Hills in Giridih.

Addressing a rally in Giridih on Wednesday evening, Soren said: “The BJP-led central government implicates people in false cases in non-BJP ruled states and is known to divide the country and states in the name of religion and caste. We are witnessing a new poison being stirred among tribals and Jains in our state over the Parasnath Hills issue. Do not worry, their game plan will not succeed this time.”

The Jain community has been protesting against a 2019 decision (taken by the erstwhile BJP government in Jharkhand and endorsed by the Centre before Soren came to power) announcing Parasnath Hills as a religious tourism site.

Following a series of protests, Soren had written to the Union environment minister on January 5 requesting him to cancel the August 2019 notification that allowed tourism activities on the hills where the Sammed Shikharji, sacred to the Jains, is situated.

The Union environment ministry on January 5 directed Jharkhand to stay all tourism activities on the hills and strictly enforce the existing ban on the sale of liquor, intoxicants and non-vegetarian food in the Parasnath Wildlife Sanctuary area.

On January 10, a section of tribals took out a rally and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Soren on the Parasnath Hills, demanding that the hills be declared a pilgrimage centre for tribals too just like it was done for the Jains and sought revocation of the blanket ban on certain activities like animal sacrifice which are part of tribal customs and religious practices.

The tribals contended that the entire mountain range is their Marang Buru (Mountain God). Worshipping the mountain range, hunting animals in the forest and offering sacrifices to the deity are their traditional rituals for ages, they pointed out and warned of agitation till the issued instructions are not cancelled and Marang Buru is also added as a pilgrimage centre. Three BJP leaders are said to be behind the tribal agitation.

The place where the tribals worship the deity and Sammed Shikharji, the sacred site from where as many as 20 of the Jains’ 24 Tirthankars (saviours and spiritual teachers) were said to have attained Mahanirvana (salvation), are around 9km apart.

On Wednesday, Soren tried to placate the tribals by asserting that Parasnath Hills would continue to be Marang Buru.

“Parasnath was Marang Buru and would continue to be Marang Buru,” the chief minister said. Soren charged the Centre with delaying the Sarna special religion code in the census.

“We had passed a special resolution in the Assembly (in November 2020) for giving a separate Sarna/Adivasi religion code in the census and sending it to the Centre. We have requested the central government on several occasions to implement it. But no step has been taken in this direction. We respect the Jain religion. But I would like to ask if the Jains, who are fewer than the tribals, can get a special religion code, why can’t tribals get it? We want this at any cost for the sake of our identity.”