Tribal minister Sudam Marandi ostracised for marrying off daughter to Brahmin

BALASORE: The family of Sports and Youth Services Minister Sudam Marandi and three villages in Odisha were reportedly ostracised by their community members on Saturday for allowing the tribal minister’s daughter to marry a Brahmin.

Residents of three villages in tribal dominated Mayurbhanj district have been boycotted along with the minister’s family for supporting them. The three villages which have been boycotted are Dahisahi, Balikhani and Kandalia.

Minister of State for ST and SC Development (Tribal Welfare), Sports and Youth Services Sudam Marandi, who belongs to Santhal tribe, had married off his daughter Sanjivani, a doctor, to Biju Janata Dal student leader Sunil Sarangi, a Brahmin, at a plush hotel in Bhubaneswar on January 31.

The decision of Marandi to give approval to the inter-caste marriage had upset the elders in the Santhal community.

In a meeting in Kiashola marketplace in Shyamsundarpur area under Bangiriposi block on Friday, various Santhal community representatives from Mayurbhanj and neighbouring Jharkhand had severely criticised the inter-caste marriage.

The ostracisation decision was taken by their community heads in the meeting.

The tribe heads said the inter-caste marriages are against the Santhal tradition. The Santhals are the third largest tribe in India, native to Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.

Marandi is a firebrand tribal leader in Odisha. He is a former Lok Sabha MP, who joined the BJD in 2014 and was inducted into the ministry of Naveen Patnaik.