Modi goes to Jharkhand to seek tribal swing for BJP in poll-bound states

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, November 13: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for several years dominated the politics of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on the basis of an extraordinary hold on the tribal vote base. The BJP’s gains among the tribals have largely been attributed to the outreach of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi now goes to Jharkhand to launch a mega scheme for the wellbeing of the particularly vulnerable tribal groups to launch a Rs 24000 crore mission.

Modi will also commemorate the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda in his ancestral village Ullihati in the Khunti district of Jharkhand on November 15, which will also coincide with the conclusion of electioneering in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Mega plans are on the anvil to hog the limelight for Modi’s visit to Jharkhand to create a buzz around the BJP’s tribal outreach. Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda has already reached the Khunti district to prepare of the programmes of Modi.

While the BJP had turned Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh into saffron citadels in the last few years, the outcome of the 2018 Assembly elections in the two states had delivered rude shock to the organisation. The tribals had largely voted for the Congress in the 2018 Assembly election, ensuring defeat of the BJP in the two states.

The Congress had won 25 of the 29 reserved seats for the tribals in Chhattisgarh, who constitute 31 per cent of the state’s population, in the 2018 Assembly election. The Congress had won 31 of the 47 reserved seats in Madhya Pradesh in the 2018 Assembly election. The Congress had repeated the BJP’s 2013 performance on the tribal reserved seats. Out of the 84 tribal dominated seats in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP had won only 34 in the 2018 Assembly election against 59 won in the previous state poll. While tribals constitute 22 per cent of the population of Madhya Pradesh, they hold significance in almost 105 Assembly seats in the state.

In Rajasthan also, 25 of the 200 Assembly seats are reserved for the tribals. The Congress had won 12 of the reserved seats for tribals in Rajasthan. Political observers claim that tribals influence outcome of the elections in about 40 Assembly seats in Rajasthan. A dozen seats are reserved for tribals in Telangana also.     

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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