Supreme Court recently dismissed the challenge to the Chhattisgarh High Court judgement, in which the installation of hoardings – which, notably, prohibited the entry of Christian padres and their likes indulging in conversion activities – by the Gram Sabhas of 8 Vanvasi (tribal) villages’ of some districts including Kanker was upheld as per law. Gram Sabhas had argued that this action was taken to stop religious conversion through coercion or allurements.

The Court concluded that the issue is related with the Vanvasi (Schedule Tribes – ST) cultural identity and social order. The local Gram Sabha has the power to prohibit outsiders to protect their traditions under PESA-1996. There is nothing in that to be called in contravention of freedom of professing any religion or faith. Converting somebody’s religion no longer remains to be the matter of ‘religious preaching’ when this gets to be the cause of taking undue advantage of somebody’s deficiency or weakness of any kind.

The Article 25 is subject to the higher ethics. It is the misuse of the article to convert the religion of anybody through the material allurement. The prohibition is meant for the entry of padres only who intend to organise events to bring about conversion.

Notably, PESA (Panchayat extension to schedule areas act) was passed in the Parliament in 1996 so that decentralization of democracy could happen in scheduled village areas. There are 10 states that come in the 5th Schedule of the Constitution. They are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujrat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. In order to bring into force the provisions of PESA in the states the Ministry of Panchayati Raj works as a Nodal agency. This transfers the powers and rights straight to Gram Sabha and Panchayats.

With the introduction of PESA the recognition to the traditional self-rule has come into being in the form of Gram-Sabha. Local control over the resources are increased, exploitation by big companies are kept under check and the consent of Gram-Sabha is also made mandatory in case of displacement caused by any development project.

The Gram-Sabha based Judicial-system led the empowerment of local people to exercise control over the natural produce, particularly in the collection of Tendupatta and other Laghu-Vanopaj. This boosted their income. Not only the rights regarding water, forest and land but also that of preserving Vanvasi culture that the PESA consists of the provisions in clear terms. It is on this basis that the Supreme Court gave the judgement on the issue of religious conversion

Since the inception of Sanatana Sanskruti, forests and natural surroundings, often in close proximity to Janjati (Vanvasi) communities, have served as the preferred places for study, spiritual practice, and austerities. During the Ramayana period, we find several kings belonging to Janjati communities. Sri Ramchandra himself addressed Nishadraj Guha as his Gurubhai (spiritual brother).

In the Mahabharata period, we witness the extraordinary display of valour and warfare by Ghatotkacha, the son of Devi Hidamba of the Janjati community and Bhima of the Pandava clan. Furthermore, Ghatotkacha’s son, Barbarik, is revered and worshipped today as Khatu Shyam.

So as to raise the wall of defense around Somnath Mandir, the fearless Vegdaji Bheel of Dron Kingdom of Gujrat and Raja Hamirji Gohil led the army to launch counter attack on Muslim invaders. The grave of this martyr can seen standing tall even today. Rana Punja Bheel is another great warrior, who emerged victorious in decisive battle against Akbar, along with Maharana Pratap. As a memorial the Mewar royal insignia displayed on one side the symbol of Bheel and that of the Rajputs on the other. There are numerous such brave warriors. The valiant fight displayed by Rani Durgawati against the Mughals showed that Vanvasi women were as brave as their male counterparts.

Entire country remembers the martyrdom of Birsa Munda, Tilka Manjhi and others who fought against the nexus of the British regime and missionaries indulged in converting Hindus by using health services as weapons. Birsa Munda sacrificed his life in opposing the missionaries and thereafter emerged as Bhagwan among the Janjati communities .

This, however, was viewed by the missionaries as a major obstacle to their mission. As a countermeasure, they adopted another Janjati boy when he was only seven years old. They strategically named him Jaypal Munda, allegedly to influence and mislead innocent Janjati people. Thereafter, he was nurtured, educated, and raised entirely within a missionary environment. Subsequently, he was deployed in a manner that, according to this perspective, worked against the interests of the Janjati community. More notably, it is argued that if it were not for him, there would have been no necessity to launch the Delisting Drive.

Fortunately, now the Janjati community has begin to show that they will no longer tolerate any onslaught on their Sanatana roots by the missionaries. However, what the Vanvasi/Janjati community has done in Chhattisgarh needs to be emulated in other parts of the country infested with anti-Santana forces under different denominations.