Kurmi stir might resume as meeting with Bengal govt fails to yield results

Kolkata : Agitation by people belonging to the Kurmi community over their demand for Scheduled Tribe status might resume after a crucial two-hour meeting between community representatives and West Bengal Chief Secretary H.K. Dwivedi failed to break the deadlock on Tuesday.

The leader of the five-member Kurmi delegation, Rajesh Mahato, told mediapersons after the meeting that since the state government failed to give them any assurance about fulfilling their demand, the meeting failed to yield any positive results.

“We will discuss among ourselves and decide on our next course of agitation by tonight,” Mahato said.

The Kurmi leader pointed out that the Union government had sought some comments/justifications from the state government on a report prepared by the West Bengal Cultural Research Institute (WBCRI), a state government body that works for indigenous tribes.

“However, the comments sent by the state government are based on records which date back to 2015. We had demanded the formation of a special committee to review the matter, which was also not agreed by the state government,” Mahato said.

Representatives from the community have alleged that the reluctance of the WBCRI as well as the state government to send a comprehensive report in this matter to the Centre is hampering the process of recognition of the Kurmi community under the ST category.

Throughout last week, normal life in the three tribal-dominated districts — Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore — was severely hampered due to the road and rail blockade agitations staged by the people from the Kurmi community.

Multiple trains, including a number of long-distance ones, had to be cancelled, while the routes of certain trains were either curtailed or diverted. Finally on Monday, following a call for a discussion given by the state government, the rail blockade agitations were called off.

However, with Tuesday’s meeting failing to break the deadlock, it is believed that fresh agitations will start again, adding to the woos of the common people.