Massive protest against ‘Tribal’ Mary

RANCHI: More than 20,000 followers of Sarna religion marched from Dravid Ashram near Dhurwa dam to Roman Catholic Church of Singpur village, with a one foot tall statue of Virgin Mary, proposing to bring down the statue of Virgin Mary in the tribal avatar at the church and replace it with the original statue. The protestors were stopped to go near the church by police so they changed their route and assembled at a nearby ground for a ‘Mahasabha’.

Hundreds of policemen were deployed at various places at the village on Sunday on orders of district administration and section 144 was enforced in a radius of 25 metres of the church to prevent unrest.

The Virgin Mary statue which was unveiled in May this year by Cardinal Telesphor P Toppo, led to protests by the followers of ‘Sarna Dharam’ as Virgin Mary was made to look like a tribal woman. She is dark complexioned, wears a red-bordered white sari like the tribal women do on auspicious occasions and carry a baby Christ in a sling.
Sarna Dharmguru, Bandhan Tigga, said, “This is a conspiracy to convert the tribals. If the statue of Virgin Mary in the tribal avatar is not removed, then hundred years from now the tribals will end up believing that Virgin Mary is Ma Sarna, the nature goddess whom we worship.”

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