Congress tribal outreach programmes gather momentum; BJP on backfoot

In a major push for tribal outreach, the Congress party plans to mark August 9, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, as ‘Adivasi Gaurav Parv’, with an array of events in state capitals and tribal-dominated areas across the country.

The Grand Old Party’s initiative to express solidarity with the tribal community comes at a time when the ruling BJP at the Centre has been ill at ease fending off criticism of pushing legislation and policies detrimental to the rights of indigenous groups, while its governments in several states have come under fire for rising atrocities against and persecution of tribals.

Congress organises Adivasi Gaurav Parv

In a letter to all state Congress chiefs, Congress general secretary (organisation), KC Venugopal, has outlined a number of events that party leaders must organise on August 9 to mark Adivasi Gaurav Parv.

“The Indian National Congress wishes to express the party’s immense admiration for our Adivasi communities and support them in their fight against the consistent erosion of their rights and identity over the past 9 years. We are all witness to how the present BJP regime is insulting, humiliating and harassing the tribal communities, and also depriving them of their legitimate rights. It has been the Congress party, which is consistently standing by them and raising their voice at various forums,” the letter states.

The AICC general secretary has asked all state Congress units to ensure that the August 9 event should “honour the rich cultural heritage of our tribal brothers and sisters as well as act as an opportunity to appreciate their role as the torch-bearers of a sustainable world”.

Also read: Focus on tribals and minorities: How Congress plans to take on BJP in Gujarat

Highlight BJP atrocities towards tribals; pledge to protect

Sources said party leaders have also been directed to “highlight the BJP’s atrocities and failures towards tribals” and to adopt a ‘Sanrakshan Pratigya’ (pledge to protect) that reiterates the Congress’s “commitment to the cause of equity and justice for the Adivasis”.

Interestingly, the letter also urges party leaders across all Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved assembly constituencies in the country to “spend the night in Adivasi homes” after organising a ‘Mashaal Yatra’ in these segments “to highlight the fight for Adivasi rights”.

However, in a break from photo ops of the past, which witnessed political leaders cutting across party lines visit homes of tribals and Dalits to ‘enjoy a meal’ cooked by the family of the host, the Congress has asked its state leaders to organise “community dinners” in all ST-reserved constituencies “where party members, Adivasi leaders, and community members can come together and engage in meaningful dialogue”.

A tribute ceremony

The party’s state leadership has also been directed to start the day’s celebrations by organising a “tribute ceremony” to honour the contribution of Adivasi communities and leaders to India’s history and development and to also plan a series of cultural events that “showcase the unique traditions, music, dance, and arts of the Adivasi communities residing in the state”.

Additionally, PCC chiefs have also been told to organise mega rallies titled Adivasi Gaurav Mahasabha “at a place in the state, which is traditionally or historically important to the Adivasis”, while state Congress units have been told to host an Adivasi Intellectuals’ Forum Conference to engage with thinkers, academicians, activists and students from tribal communities.

The rationale behind the Congress’s efforts at mobilising support among the tribal communities isn’t difficult to fathom.

Tribals across the country once formed a major chunk of the Congress’s traditional vote bank before they began swerving in large numbers towards the BJP, which began identifying and celebrating tribal icons in various Adivasi-dominated areas, while the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), through its affiliate wings such as the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, made concerted attempts to homogenise disparate tribal groups under an umbrella Hindu identity.

Over the past nine years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also aggressively courted the tribal vote bank and the BJP, both at the Centre and in the states that it rules, has been on an overdrive to launch schemes for tribal welfare and to name and rename places after tribal icons. Modi’s role in catapulting Droupadi Murmu to become India’s first ever tribal woman President has also been incessantly highlighted by the BJP as evidence of Modi’s commitment towards emancipation of historically oppressed tribal communities.

Also read: Urinating incident exposes BJP’s anti-Dalit, anti-tribal face: Rahul Gandhi

BJP losing hold of tribal vote bank

However, over the past few months, the BJP’s hold over its newly acquired vote bank has come under strain.

The continuing ethnic violence among two tribal groups in Manipur, the incident of a tribal man in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh being urinated on by a BJP worker, the Centre’s push for a pro-industry Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 that tramples on the constitutionally-mandated rights of tribal groups and the continually rising instances of crimes against tribals have been collectively pointed at by the Opposition, as examples of the BJP’s double speak on tribal welfare and alleviation.

Congress efforts to include Adivasis and Dalits

Predictably, there is a newfound enthusiasm in the Congress, still under the hangover of Rahul Gandhi’s deservedly praised Bharat Jodo Yatra, over regaining its hold on the tribal community, as also on the other electorally amorphous but formidable voting bloc of the Dalits. The party had, at its Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir held in Udaipur last May and then again at the 85th Plenary Session held in Raipur this February, made a strong pitch for increasing representation of adivasi and Dalits in the leadership roles within the Congress.

The Congress has chalked out a Leadership Development Mission (LDM) with the express mandate of identifying and nurturing SC/ST leaders across all parliamentary constituencies reserved for the two communities.

Earlier this month, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had also launched the party’s first LDM workshop, where he emphasised on the Congress’s need to develop and promote leaders from the Other Backward Class (OBC) and minority groups, aside from the SC and ST communities.

Later this year, assemblies in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Mizoram are due for elections. In Mizoram, where the inflow of refugees from strife-torn Manipur has begun stirring up political passions, 39 of the state assembly’s 40 seats are reserved for STs. In the 90-member Chhattisgarh assembly and 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly, the STs have 29 and 47 assembly seats, respectively, reserved for them.

In Rajasthan’s 200-member Vidhan Sabha, 25 seats are reserved for the STs. Telangana is the only poll-bound state where the STs, with nine seats reserved for them in a 119-member assembly, are not a major vote bank.

Thus, there are 149 ST reserved seats across the five poll-bound states where the Congress hopes its plans to mobilise support among the tribals by highlighting the BJP’s “apathy towards them and failure in protecting their rights” can script a political revival of the party at the hustings. In the 2018 assembly polls in these states, the Congress had registered a strong electoral recovery across the ST reserved seats in Chhattisgarh and MP.

The GOP had won 29 of the 47 ST reserved seats in MP and 25 of the 29 tribal seats in Chhattisgarh. In Rajasthan too, where it had to face the twin challenge of taking on the BJP and the Bharatiya Tribal Party in adivasi reserved seats, the Congress successfully bagged 10 of the 25 tribal seats.

K Raju, national coordinator of the Congress party’s SC, ST, OBC and minority departments, says his party has already started localised LDM campaigns in over 110 of the 149 ST reserved assembly seats spread across the five poll bound states and an assembly coordinator has been appointed in these constituencies to monitor these activities.

Sources said that in coming months the Congress also plans to ensure that not just Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi but also a number of other senior party leaders, particularly from the tribal community, stridently raise issues concerning the tribals while also cornering the BJP on its alleged failures in curbing crimes against adivasis and on the Centre’s apparent push for legislation and policies that harm tribal interests.