Sukhi Shobor, 69, of Mrigichami village in Purulia district picked up a handful of clay and threw it down on the ground to indicate how landowners used to toss foodgrains at Kheriya Shobors even a decade ago.
“They were scared of our touch,” she said. Kheriya Shobors were considered criminals after the British passed the Criminal Tribes Act in the second half of the 19th century and put 200 communities on the list. The Act led to untouchability. The Shobors remained ostracised for several decades even after they were denotified in 1952. “It is difficult to break social taboos even after laws are put in place, but we tried,” said Kheriya Shobor Kalyan Samiti director Prashanto Rakshit.
The samiti, which has writer Mahasweta Devi as its working president, started working among the Shobors in 1968 in the districts of Paschim [West] Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia. Twenty-two seats in Medinipur and Bankura will go to the polls on April 11.
“The Samiti did some work. Today we have no restriction in visiting the villages of other castes. The police do not question us randomly,” said Anil Shobor of Mrigichami. But their progress receded towards the last years of the Left Front rule and the initial years of the Trinamool Congress.
Mr. Shobor said the samiti members, political representatives, officials and even Mahasweta Devi stopped visiting the community.
There are about 1,00,000 Shobors, including those of the Lodha and Kheriya communities, and in all probability, the Kheriyas will abstain from voting.“What is the point,” asks Sukhi Shobor. “No one comes to campaign here as we are small in number…let us forget them.”
