Kurmi community protesters in Jharkhand have ended their railway blockade after receiving an assurance from the central government. The agitators, who were demanding Scheduled Tribe (ST) status and the inclusion of their Kurmali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, have been promised a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The protest was called off at all but two stations late on Saturday night. According to Sheetal Ohdar, central president of the Kurmi Vikas Morcha, the blockades at Sini station in Seraikela-Kharswan district and Pradhan Khanta station in Dhanbad were also withdrawn around 10 am on Sunday.
“We withdrew the agitation after an assurance from the office of the Union Home Minister of a meeting with Amit Shah. However, the date has not been allotted yet,” said Ohdar, who is also a member of the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj (AKS).
On Saturday, thousands of protesters, under the banner of the AKS, had defied a ban on public gatherings and occupied railway tracks at several stations, including Muri, Rai, Tatisilwai, Barkakana, Parasnath, Charhi, Pradhan Khanta, Galudih, and Chandrapura. The protest caused significant disruption, leading to the cancellation, diversion, or short-termination of over 100 passenger trains under the jurisdiction of the South Eastern Railway's Ranchi division and the East Central Railway's Dhanbad division. A railway official confirmed that services are now being restored.
Meanwhile, various tribal organisations had opposed the Kurmi community's protest. These groups staged their own demonstration near Raj Bhawan in Ranchi on Saturday. Tribal leader Lakshmi Narayan Munda claimed that the Kurmi protest was “illegal and undemocratic,” and that they were trying to “snatch the rights of genuine Scheduled Tribes.”
Also read: Kurmi community halts trains in Jharkhand demanding ST status
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