Siliguri polls: This village ofvanishing Dhimal tribe rues 'utter neglect'

SANKHA  GHOSE, SNS, KETUGABUR (NAXALBARI), 16 JUNE 2022: Although election fever has heated up rural areas in the Siliguri Sub-division, the non- descript Ketugabur Jote, a village known as the abode of the Dhimal community for decades, has remained untouched by the poll hullabaloo.

A trip to the village in the face of the elections to be held on 26 June revealed only a handful of party flags fluttering the four- km stretch  from Naxalbari, some km away from Siliguri.

"We are not thinking about the three-tier rural elections seriously, but we do exercise our democratic rights by casting votes whenever elections are held," said 61-year-old Garjan Mallik, who was the first graduate in the community in 1984.  

Mr Mallik is one of the community members who has ran from pillar to post in the past three decades to have their long-standing demand for tribal status for the Dhimals.

"The rural elections are held on local issues, but during the polls, this issue is always highlighted. Political parties have yet to arrive here for campaigning, and we know they will be here after a few days. Lack of opportunities has led to many children losing interest in studies and that has led to a significant number of dropouts," said a local, Pratima Mallik. 

Explaining the situation of the community, locals said around 15-16 students had dropped out of schools and colleges recently. Around seven eight persons have completed graduation, and two have completed post-graduation in the community. One woman is working in the Border Security Force, while another person is working in the Army 

Mrs Mallik went on to add: "We have been disappointed over the delay in granting the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

It has been a long standing demand to protect our distinct language, indigenous culture and the community which are on the verge of extinction. The demand for ST status is paramount to us. It can save our tribe from going extinct. We are deprived of benefits from the government because we have yet to get the ST status."

The ruling Trinamul Congress has, however, penetrated the community to woo voters there. Party leaders are trying to drive home the point that the state government had already pushed ahead the demand but that the Centre was not serious.

The community which is on the verge of extinction with a population of 2000, lives in areas like Ketugabur, Hatighisa and Buraganj under the Naxalbari and Kharibari blocks in the Siliguri sub-division. Some Dhimals also live in neighbouring Nepal.

The Union ministry of tribal affairs had formed a committee in 201(i to examine  the demand for the ST tag. The Cultural Research lnstitute conducted an exhaustive ethnographic survey in 2007- 2008 and recommended the tribal status next year.

More than 1000 Dhimals live under Maniram gram panchayat (GP), which covers Ketugabur Jote, around 900 under Hatighisa GP and 10 in Buraganj GP.

"We had carried out a tentative house to house survey to figure out the population of our community and it had roughly estimated around 2000," said Mr Mallik, who is the secretary of the Dhimal

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had recommended to the Prime Minister and the Union tribal affairs ministry in 2014 that the community could he given the ST status they had been waiting for years. The Union ministry of tribal affairs had formed a committee in 2016 to examine the tribal status demand for 11 communities, although the committee has been reconstituted thrice since then.

Mr Mallik's assertion indicates that the community was losing faith in the Centre.

"We met several central  leaders, made several representations. We got many promises over the tribal status from BJP MPs and Union ministers since 2014, but the developments have not been encouraging, and the demand has remained unfulfilled. We are requesting the Centre to grant the ST status to the Dhimal community to protect the language and culture. At the same time, we request chief minister Mamata Banerjee for a development board for the preservation of our language, culture and for other opportunities. If the state government takes positive steps on the development board, our community will benefit to a large extent," he added.

The Darjeeling district Trinamul Congress (Plains) president, Papiya Ghosh, has already met the community people.

"We are very much aware of their long pending demand for ST status, on which the BJP did nothing except make tall claims. If we talk about the development board issue, we have sent it to the state party leadership," Mrs Ghosh said.

BJP leaders, on the other hand, are hopeful that the community will be given the tribal status.

"The Centre has been working for the development of different communities. There are several communities in north Bengal. Our party leaders have been pursuing the issue. We are hopeful that the Dhimal community will get the tribal status soon," said the Siliguri (Organisational) District president of the party, Anandamay Barman.