Amit Kumar Gupta

Tribal people in Jharkhand have had enough. At a press conference held at the Ranchi Press Club by members of the Kendriya Sarna Samiti, they issued a strict warning to Christian missionaries celebrating indigenous tribal festivals like Karam inside churches. They categorically stated that the primary adversary of tribals in India are Christian missionaries. Kendriya Sarna Samiti Representative): "We want to warn Christian missionaries: you have already converted; you have abandoned your indigenous customs, traditions, culture, and customary systems. If you forcibly attack or hurt our rituals and traditions, we will not tolerate it. And under any circumstances, if Karam is celebrated inside a church, you must be prepared to face the consequences. We want to state in very clear terms—you have made a mockery of this. Your entire tradition and ritual system revolves around Fathers, Sisters, and Brothers. Our customs and traditions run on the systems of Pahan (traditional priest) and Panbhara. And yet you claim to be Adivasis? You have made a joke out of Jharkhand! We will not tolerate this. Now you have even started celebrating Sarhul, wearing our traditional attire, and dancing to the Mandar (traditional drum). What kind of spectacle have you created?" Soma Oraon (Tribal Leader): "We are warning the Cardinal... We warn the Cardinal that whatever attempts you made to turn Jharkhand into a Christian republic are in the past. Soma is telling you: mend your ways now. For as long as you exploited us—trying to destroy our customs, worship practices, and heritage in every way—we will expose all your misdeeds. From your biggest figures like former minister Bandhu Tirkey to church workers, we are exposing everyone, and through this press conference, we sound a clear warning. If by mistake you plant the Karam branch inside the church, we will not protest on that exact day. Let me make it clear: we are peaceful people. And since you are a Cardinal and this government favors you, whatever you ask of the Honorable Chief Minister, he will do. But on the very next day, with musical instruments, liquor (handia) offerings, drums (dhol-nagara), sacred pots (kalsa), rice (chaur), and vermilion (sindoor), we will march to that church. We will enter. If you lock the gates, right there at the locked entrance we will sacrifice a rooster, offer handia, apply vermilion and sacred rice, sprinkle it all around the perimeter, and declare that church a Dhumkuria (traditional Oraon youth dormitory). So consider this a warning: if you want to heed it, wake up. If you want to reform, reform now. Otherwise, go ahead and celebrate it in your prominent churches this time. If we do not sacrifice a rooster the next day and declare it a Dhumkuria, my name is not Soma Oraon! Whatever you did to mislead the tribal and indigenous people in the past will no longer work. Your intention of turning Jharkhand into a Christian republic is finished. That is why I state in many interviews that if tribal and indigenous communities have any primary adversary in Jharkhand, India, or the world, it is Christian missionaries. I don't just have one piece of evidence—I have thousands of documents to prove it. So beware... My senior colleagues have covered everything. My core point is: stop instigating tribes, converting them, and trying to build a Christian state. If you have become Christian, then follow Christian rituals and the Indian Christian Marriage Act of 1872. Nobody is stopping you. But will you take ST reservations, minority benefits, foreign reservations, and FCRA funding all for yourselves while we are left with nothing? We are educated now, we understand everything, and we are studying all of this closely. So consider yourselves warned!"