Why Gujarat tribals miss Chhotubai Vasava, now a spent political force

A week back, Chaitar Vasava, the working president of the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Gujarat unit and the Dediapada MLA, called for creating a Bhil Pradesh at a public rally in Bharuch, Gujarat on the occasion of the Birsa Munda Jayanti.

The tribal leader announced a new outfit, Bhil Pradesh Mukti Morcha, to agitate for a separate tribal state at a gathering of a few hundred people with other state leaders of the AAP on the stage with him.

A tall leader

Seven years ago, it was Chhotubhai Vasava, the veteran tribal leader and the political guru of Chaitar Vasava, who had called for a Bhil state from the same stage. Thousands heard their ‘Robinhood’, as Chhotubhai Vasava is seen as in the tribal region.

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It was a time when the charged up public meetings in the tribal areas would literally scare the BJP government in the state. The police would throng the venue and local BJP leaders would fear Chhotubhai’s next move.

Flags of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) could be seen on almost every third or fourth house, trees, tea stalls and on motorcycles in villages.

As Chhotu Vasava took the stage, the crowds would clap and cheer even before he started to speak. He spoke after a few minutes after the noise faded out.

“Greetings, hail Birsa, hail tribals! All the parties have looted the tribals year after year," his voice would boom.

A landline phone

He would go on: “My father-in-law was killed by upper caste people in a land dispute many years ago. Things haven’t improved much since then. The fifth and sixth schedule of the Constitution has never been implemented here. The BJP government has set up chemical factories in the GIDC area on our land."

"Tribals don’t have any share in those factories. In fact, the waste from these factories continues to ruin our agricultural land and produce. We need our own state,” roared Chhotubhai, who was preparing to contest from Jhagadiya for the seventh time.

This was the only public appearance that Chhotu Vasava made as a part of his campaign ahead of the Gujarat Assembly polls in 2017. Like always, he ran his entire campaign through a landline phone from his house in Jhagadiya village, which lacked a good cellular network.

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Missed now

From 1990 to 2017, Chhotubhai represented two political parties — the BTP and the Janata Dal (United) — from Jhagadiya. His campaign slogan, however, remained the same — ‘Naam hi kafi hai’ ('The name is enough').

But those are tales of a time gone by.

In the Assembly elections of 2022, a feud between Chhotubhai and his elder son and political heir Mahesh Vasava — over joining hands with the AAP — put a halt on the father's decade-long electoral career.

Trouble in tribal politics

Chhotu Vasava left the seat for Mahesh to contest as a BTP candidate from Jhagadiya. He later withdrew his candidature. Chhotu himself contested as an independent and lost. The BJP bagged Jhagadiya for the first time.

A lot has changed since then in the tribal politics of south Gujarat. Chhotu Vasava’s political fall has seen the rise of several young tribal leaders.

His close aide Chaiter Vasava, for one, went on to become an AAP MLA after winning from Dediapara in 2022. Anant Patel, another tribal leader, won as a Congress candidate from Vansda in Navsari.

Mahesh Vasava, elder son of Chhotu Vasava, supposed to be his political heir, joined the BJP in March 2024, leaving the BTP leaderless.

A father figure

“After their electoral win, these tribal leaders have hardly been active. Except for Chaiter Vasava, who has raised his voice against issues like UCC or for a Bhil state, others have been nearly invisible,” Praful Vasava, a tribal rights activist from south Gujarat and a former AAP leader, told The Federal.

Ashok Srimali, a senior member of the Centre for Social Knowledge and Action (SETU), an Ahmedabad-based body that works with marginalised groups, said Chhotu Vasava was more than a political leader for the tribals.

“He was a father figure for many young men he took in his fold. Women would approach him to solve everyday problems ranging from land disputes with the government to admitting a sick person in a hospital to even family feuds,” Srimali told The Federal.

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'He feared none'

“He was accessible to all. His home in Jhagadiya was always open and meals were always being cooked in his kitchen for those visiting him," Srimali further said.

“But most importantly, he stood up for the rights of the tribals, their land, livelihood and culture. He had been a thorn for the BJP for long, both politically and socially. It was only after his political decline that the BJP got a cultural and political foothold in the tribal region."

“He stood in the way of religious and cultural imposition like building a temple or organising Ram Katha," Srimali added. "Moreover, he was not afraid to openly support tribals arrested after being accused as Naxalites. Since 2022, many young tribal leaders have come up but none seem to fit his shoes. Although they might win electorally, it is impossible to fill the social void created due to the decline of Chhotubhai.”

Spoke for so-called Naxalites

Pravin Gamit, a former BTP member, said three tribals including a woman allegedly accused of being Naxalites were arrested by the Gujarat Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) earlier this month. No new tribal leader raised the issue.

“In 2020, Chhotubhai created an uproar in the Assembly when the ATS arrested three Pathalgadi movement activists from Jharkhand in Bharuch, accusing them of being Naxalites,” he said.

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“Not just that. In the past three years, temples have sprouted across the tribal belt. On September 2, a grand event was held in Tapi district for a yagna for 311 Hanuman temples that have been newly built. Such events couldn’t have been possible before,” Gamit told The Federal.

Chhotubhai’s son humiliated

This March, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Chhotu Vasava floated the Bharat Adivasi Party, breaking away from the BTP. But instead of contesting himself, he made way for his younger son Dilip Vasava.

But Dilip lost the parliamentary battle miserably, bagging just 10,000 votes less than NOTA. Since then, he has not been seen in public.

“Most of us left the BTP after Chhotubhai left the party. Chhotubhai is almost 80 years old now and is trying to bring his younger son to take his place. But I don’t think Dilipbhai can replace Chhotubhai and rebuild the hold he had in the area,” Gamit said.