The Politics of Difference: Ol-Chiki and Santal Identity in Eastern India

The indigenous people of India have a very contested history of their origin, and hence a blurred identity. The initial contours of tribal identity in India was shaped by the idea that tribals should be assimilated into the dominant Hindu fold or integrated as citizens of a nation state. The dominant communities wanted the tribals even to learn and speak the languages of the dominant groups over their own native languages. On the other hand, the struggles against this discrimination waged by the oppressed and subordinated forlast two centuries or more were seen as struggle for recognition as equals. However, in recent times, as a counter to the threat posed to the tribal ways of living by the dominant groups, articulation of tribal identity has been emerging from within. The new struggle encompassed another completely new and opposite demand – the demand for recognition of difference. Building on Santali script (Ol-Chiki) movement in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, the paper argues that the struggle for equal rights of citizenship and distribution along with taking pride in their own tribal identity has led to the development of subnationalism among the Santals in Eastern India.