Adivasi delisting debate: Should ST status continue after religious conversion?

When the population census process began in Jharkhand on May 16, an appeal started circulating among Adivasi communities asking people not to enter "Hindu" in the religion column, and instead to write "Sarna" — the traditional tribal faith — or "others". About a week later, a large Sangh-affiliated Adivasi gathering in New Delhi on May 24, attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, demanded "delisting" — that is, removing Scheduled Tribe (ST) status from tribal people who have converted to Christianity or Islam. These two events have revived a long-running debate over religion, identity and reservation among Adivasis.

The delisting demand argues that tribal people who convert to Christianity or Islam should not continue to receive constitutional benefits available to STs, including reservation in jobs and education. The demand is led mainly by Adivasi Hindus and groups like the Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM), which is linked to the Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, a Sangh-affiliated tribal organisation. The counter-position is held by the Sarna community — which says it is neither Hindu nor Christian — and by Christian Adivasis. Their argument is that if religion becomes the test for ST status, then Adivasis who follow Hinduism should also lose their tribal status. A large counter-rally in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur district was organised on the same theme.

The constitutional questions are real. The Supreme Court has reiterated in recent observations that Dalits who convert to Christianity or Islam cannot claim Scheduled Caste status under Article 341. That order is based on the language of Article 341, which restricts SC status to persons of certain Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist origins. But Article 342, which deals with Scheduled Tribes, does not mention religion at all. This drafting difference is central to the present debate. Many tribal scholars and the Sarna leadership argue that ST status is based on community, ethnicity and historical identity — not on which god a person worships.

The historical roots of the delisting idea are usually traced to Baba Kartik Oraon, a senior Adivasi leader who later became a Union minister in Indira Gandhi's cabinet. After losing the 1962 Lok Sabha election from the ST-reserved Lohardaga seat, he challenged the result in the Patna High Court, arguing that his opponent had converted to Christianity and was therefore no longer a tribal. The Patna High Court rejected his plea. It ruled that "Oraon is primarily a tribe and ethnic identity, not merely a religion," and noted that Christian Oraons continued to follow tribal clan systems, customs and festivals — so they remained "Oraons first and Christians next". This ruling is often cited even today by those opposing delisting.

In August 1967, when Kartik Oraon was a minister, the government introduced the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha. It was sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, which in November 1969 proposed excluding Christian and Muslim converts from the ST category. The government, however, expressed reservations and Parliament never adopted that proposal. The matter has remained politically contested ever since.

Interestingly, Kartik Oraon's own writings show a more complex view. In his book "Bees Varsh Ki Kaali Raat", he describes Adivasi faith as "Adi Dharma" — an indigenous religion that, according to him, existed before Hinduism. While he did argue that converted Christians should not continue to receive ST benefits, he also questioned the idea that Adivasis are Hindus, asking under which varna — Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra — Adivasis could possibly fit in the traditional Hindu social order. His daughter Geetashree Oraon, a Congress politician and former Jharkhand education minister, has said his legacy is often "twisted" to push positions he himself did not hold.

A linked controversy is around language. The Home Minister used the word "vanvasi" (forest dweller) while speaking on delisting. Protesters in Jharkhand argued that "vanvasi" reduces tribal identity to geography, whereas "Adivasi" — meaning original inhabitants — carries a political and historical claim linked to land, indigeneity and self-rule traditions.

For exam preparation, students should understand the difference between Articles 341 and 342, the principles behind Scheduled Tribe identification (the Lokur Committee criteria of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact and backwardness), and the wider debate on whether religious conversion should affect access to constitutional protections.