Today, Thursday, June 30, 2022 at 10 am in the hall room of Dinajpur District Press Club organized by Bangladesh Adivasi Samiti, Bangladesh Krishok Federation, Bangladesh Kishani Sabha and Bangladesh Bhumihin Samiti under the chairmanship of Adivasi Samiti President Omoli Kisku Zayed Iqbal Khan, General Secretary of Krishok Federation Central Committee, Rina Mardi, Leader of Bangladesh Adivasi Samiti, Tarok Kabiraj, District President of Bangladesh Krishok Federation, Pintu, Ujjwal, Sabiha Khatun, District President of Bangladesh Kishani Sabha, Pourosobha President Shukla Rani, Suchitra Rani, Hajera Begum, Central Organizing Secretary of Student Unity Forum Md. Riday Hossain, Student Leader Kamrunahar, Nayan Tara and others.

Immediately after the occupation of India by the British in 1757, the fire of revolt spread all over India. This revolt is known as the revolt of the monks and Fakirs. Following this, thousands of revolts and uprisings took place all over India till the end of British colonial rule in 1947. During this long period of history, on June 30, 1855, thousands of Santals, led by Sidhu-Kanu-Chand-Bhairab and their two sisters Phulo Murmu and Jhanu Murmu from Dami-ni-Koh or Santal Pargana, declared their independence from the British.

In this battle the Santals jumped against the British equipped with modern weapons with their traditional bow and arrow. Although the Santals won the war first, the British later suppressed the revolt by carrying out a brutal massacre. Twenty-five thousand Santal indigenous rebels including 4 Santal brothers Sidhu-Kanu-Chand-Bhairab were killed. In history, therefore, it is known as the Santal Rebellion. This Santal revolt later became the source of inspiration for many more revolts. Even in every phase of the liberation movement from the British to India, the Santal Rebellion has awakened the people. The Tebhaga Uprising and the Nachol Rebellion, organized in the 1940s, echoed the historic Santal Rebellion.

The Santals are the original inhabitants of this region. This was Santal who cleaned forest and made the land suitable for human habitation and makes the land cultivable. Their livelihood depended on the crops they produced. The Santal tribesmen fell into the clutches of the British-created agent Zamindars and moneylenders. As a result, they fell into the trap of debt and became slaves.

It was this special situation that later turned them against the British rule.

Despite the tradition of such heroic struggles in history, the socio-economic condition of the Santal tribes has not changed even today. Indigenous people are expatriates in their own land. They do not have proper recognition nationally and constitutionally. They are deprived of many citizen’s benefits. There is no effective system to protect their language, culture and rituals. Their traditional rights over land are not preserved. A class of forcible occupiers is occupying the lands of the Santals through fraud and in some places dishonest officials of the forest department are playing the role of occupiers. Moreover, they are also victims of various forms of social oppression.

The following demands on the 167^th day of the Santal Rebellion:

1. Adivasi must be given constitutional recognition;

2. Special allocation should be made in the national budget for the development of indigenous;

3. Special measures must be taken to preserve the language, culture and rituals of the indigenous people;

4. All oppression and persecution must be stopped on the people of Adivasi;

5. Indigenous peoples must ensure their rights / ownership by recognizing traditional rights over land;

6. Indigenous peoples should stop occupying land by the forest department;

7. A separate land commission should be formed to solve all the land related problems of the plain land indigenous people.

Message Sender
Swapan Ekka
General Secretary
Bangladesh Adivasi Samiti