West Bengal: Adivasi outfits in Malda pledge support to Mamata Banerjee

MALDA: Two tribal outfits — Adivasi Sengel Aviyan (ASA) and Jharkhand Disom Party (JDP) — have pledged support to Mamata Banerjee a day ahead of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s public meeting at Malda’s Gazole, which has a heavy Adivasi presence.
“We want to see Mamata Banerjee win the assembly polls. We also want her to become the PM in 2024,” said former MP Salkhan Murmu of ASA after a meeting with JDP on Monday.“We are going to hold an Adivasi rally in Malda on March 7. We will invite Mamata to the meeting,” he said.
The Adivasi meeting has been planned on March 7, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to hold a public meeting at the Brigade Parade Grounds.
The JDP and ASA blocked railways and national highways recently demanding recognition of the Sarna religion. Mohon Hasda, state JDP president, said: “We have been raising our demand for religion for a long time. Though the state government has approved our demand, the BJP-led Centre is sitting on it. Instead, they are keen on including Adivasis in the broad Hindu family,” Hansda said.
The state JDP president also complained against BJP’s bid to convert Adivasis into Hindus.
Blocks like Habibpur, Gazole, Bamangola and Old Malda of Malda along with Tapan, Gangarampur and Balurghat of South Dinajpur feature a huge tribal population. During the last general election, BJP won both North Malda and Balurghat with their support.