Thousands from the tribal community walked up to a number of railway stations in the northern and southern parts of Bengal on Sunday to block the tracks and demand Sarna to be recognised as their religion by the Centre ahead of the census survey across the country next year.

The rail roko disrupted trains across north Bengal and left thousands, including Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s Bimal Gurung and government job examinees, stranded. Traffic snapped in some highways as tribal protesters blocked them.

In north Bengal, tracks were blocked at Adina station of Malda district and Dalkhola station of neighbouring North Dinajpur districts. For over three hours, trains could not move through these stations on the principal route that connects the region and the Northeast with the rest of the country.

“Census will be conducted across India next year. We want our religion code to be recognised ahead of this exercise. So far, we have not been classified as members of a separate religious identity and it is time now that an appropriate decision is made in this regard,” said Durga Murmu, a representative of the Jharkhand Disom Party.

Organisations such as Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan, All India Majhi Pargana Mandowa and other tribal groups joined the movement.

In south Bengal, Kantadih station along Purulia-Asansol route, Jhankipahari station of Bankura along Purulia-Bankura route, Nalhati station and NH14 in Dubrajpur of Birbhum were affected, said sources.

The protests disrupted services of at least six long-distance passenger trains in north Bengal, which include trains bound for New Jalpaiguri, New Alipurduar, Delhi and Calcutta. These trains halted in various stations.

“Also, around 15 goods or parcel trains got stranded. Security persons were deployed in all locations to monitor the situation. Things became normal in the afternoon,” said an official of Northeast Frontier Railway.

The rail roko caused hundreds of youths who had taken trains to Siliguri to miss reaching exam centres for the West Bengal State Public Service Commission clerk recruitment test.
The state government requested the commission to give them a second chance.

“GOWB has requested PSC to give an early second opportunity to examinees who have missed the Clerkship Part 2 examination 2019 at Siliguri today because of an unforeseen rail blockade today, whereupon PSF has agreed to do so for those examinees who missed the chance today,” the state home department mentioned in a tweet.

The blockade also left Gurung stranded for a few hours. Gurung, who had boarded a train from Calcutta on Saturday to reach Siliguri, got stuck at Azamnagar Road, a station in neighbouring Bihar. He hired a car to reach Siliguri to speak at the public meeting.

The Sarna demand, political observers said, gained ground because last month, neighbouring Jharkhand government passed a special resolution in the Assembly on the Sarna religious code.

“Through the resolution, a special column in the 2021 census has been sought for Sarna followers who worship nature. Jharkhand’s move has bolstered the confidence of Bengal’s tribal population,” said an observer.