Rajasthan's Manganiyar tribals are protesting over a remark in the Assembly by an MLA who said his religion forbids sharing food with people from that community, renowned for its folk music.
Protests are underway for the last three days against Congress MLA from Sheo constituency Ameen Khan's remarks in the House.
During a debate on the revised budget for 2019-20 in the Rajasthan Assembly, Khan had said, "In our religion, Manganiyar's used to take loans from us. It is written in our religion that it is forbidden to eat food of a Manganiyar, whereas eating food at a Meghwal's house is permitted. The reason behind it is that begging and stealing are equal to sin. Manganiyar's food should not be eaten."
Internationally renowned Manganiyar artists took to the streets in the western part of the state following this, demanding an apology from the legislator.
"We have not begged for awards, we have won them. We don't work to win awards but to win hearts. We have been nurturing our tradition for 19 generations. The comments from the legislator are objectionable and has hurt the community's sentiments," Chugge Khan, lead artist of the Rajasthan Josh group and Rajasthan Ratna awardee, told PTI.
The artist has travelled 128 countries and has earned respect across the world.
He said the community was protesting in Jaisalmer, Barmer and Jodhpur, and has also presented a memorandum to the respective district collectors.
The talent of LangaManganiyar folk artistes is respected across the world and the members of the tribal community have been awarded Padma Shree and Grammy, which they did not get by begging, Chugge Khan said.
He added that the community will continue to protest till the legislator apologises.
"Manganiyar artistes don't differentiate between temples and mosques. They perform at all rituals across caste or religion," he said.
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