Dressed in red and wielding red flags, the members of the Maoist backed tribal outfit Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangh (CMAS), marched from Narayanpatna block till Laxmipur to wage a war against illicit liquor shops.
The Adivasi Sangh been involved protest against in forcible acquisition of lands from non-tribal farmers for past three months.nother motive behind the rally was to motivate the tribals residing in Laxmipur to join their outfit.
"This organisation is of poor tribals and we are inviting all the tribals to join us. We are staging an anti-liquor movement. The upper class people (non-tribals) take advantage of the innocent tribals. We condemn this and we will break all the illicit liquor shops. We also demand the release of our two members, arrested by the police," said Nachika Linga, Leader, CMAS.
The rally took place in the presence of the administrative authorities and the police.
"There is no tension, till now it is peaceful, by god's will it will remain peaceful only," said Gadadhar Parida, Collector, Koraput.
The Adivasi Sangh also demanded release of two of their members who were arrested by the Laxmipur police on charges of destruction of liquor units in the area.
The administrative authorities are wary of the CMAS extending its hold in Laxmipur as well.
The CMAS is now ridden with violent factionalism, one belonging to Bandhugaon and other to Narayanpatna.
Both the groups have been involved in forcible acquisition of land from the non-tribals in a bid to restore the land to the tribals.
In the past three months, they had acquired around 3,000 acres of non-tribal land in both these regions and distributed it amongst the tribals. The unrest had also prompted many non-tribals to flee the region.