Koch-Rajbongshis

Why in News?

Leaders of the Koch-Rajbongshi Sanmilita Joutha Mancha recently submitted a 15-point memorandum to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Assam unit president Dilip Saikia highlighting their demands.

Mancha is an umbrella body comprising 12 organisations of the Koch-Rajbongshi community, which once ruled large swathes across present-day Assam, West Bengal, and Bangladesh.

• Demands
  • They demanded Scheduled Tribes status for their community.
  • Re-establishment of the historic Kamatapur State.
  • Creation of a Chilarai Regiment in the armed forces in honour of the community’s legendary warrior.

• Related Committees – Mahesh Kumar Singla Committee.
• Koch-Rajbongshis – Koch Rajbongshi is an ancient tribe originally from the ancient Koch kingdom.
• Koch Rajbongshi are an indigenous tribe of South Asia who live in Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. They are also known as the Rajbanshi or Rajvanshi.
• The Koch-Rajbongshis are one of 6 ethnic groups seeking ST status for decades and currently enjoy Other Backward Classes status.
• The others are Adivasis, Ahoms, Chutias, Mataks, and Morans. 
• Origin - The Koch Rajbongshi's called themselves Kamateshwars (the rulers of Kamata/Kamatapur Kingdom).
  • But their influence and expansions were so extensive and far reaching that their kingdom is sometimes called the Koch kingdom.
• Language - Rajbongshi/Rajbanshi language spoken by one crore people, according to a 2001 census report for West Bengal.
• Religion - The Rajbongshi were primarily animist, but later on they followed Hinduism/Sanatana (both Shaiva and Vaishnabhite).
• A few section of Rajbongshi pleople were also found to be followers of Christianity, both Roman Catholic and protestant.

Reference

The Hindu | Koch-Rajbongshis