Rumble In The Jungle: How the BJP battled for the tribal vote, and won

The BJP won three assembly elections in a row in Chhattisgarh (2003, 2008, and 2013), but the Congress made an emphatic comeback in 2018, with a huge margin.

The schemes for tribals announced by political parties in the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh (MP) assume significance given the indicative outcome of the polls.

In Chhattisgarh, scheduled tribes (STs) account for 30.6 percent of the population, while in Madhya Pradesh they comprise 21.1 percent.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched the Rs 24,000-crore Pradhan Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PM-PVTG) mission on November 15. The mission will focus on the holistic development of 75 PVTGs across 18 states and union territories. Under the mission, amenities such as road and telecom connectivity, and access to education, healthcare, and nutrition will be provided to marginalised tribes.

The mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the polls in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. According to the 2011 census, MP and Chhattisgarh have a PVTG population of around 4.1 lakh and 1.1 lakh, respectively.

The scheme  was seen as a key part of BJP’s push for the tribal vote.

Chhattisgarh

The BJP win in Chhattisgarh stumped pollsters, who were predicting a Congress victory.

Gopal Krishna Agarwal, BJP’s national spokesperson for Economic Affairs, told Moneycontrol, “The issue is that the Congress has been talking about a caste census, OBC (Other Backward Classes) welfare for more than 65 years, when they were in power, but did not do anything. It was the Modi government that gave constitutional status to the OBC Commission. They talk about tribal welfare, but it was the Modi government that allocated Rs 24,000 crore to the tribal mission. The people have understood that.”

The BJP won three assembly elections in a row in Chhattisgarh (2003, 2008, and 2013), but the Congress made an emphatic comeback in 2018, with a huge margin.

In the 2023 state assembly elections, out of 29 tribal seats, BJP is likely to win 18 — Bharatpur-Sonhat, Ramanujhanj, Pratappur, Samri, Jashpur, Kunkuri, Pathalgaon, Sitapur, Lundra, Marwahi, Keshkal, Antagarh, Kondagaon, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Chitrakot, Kankar, and Antagarh.

Madhya Pradesh

The party winning the tribal vote has gone on to form the government in Madhya Pradesh on past occasions. There are 46 Scheduled Tribes across the State’s 54 districts. Of these, six major tribal groups — Bhil, Gond, Kol, Kurku, Sahariya, and Baiga — account for more than 90 percent of the state’s 1.53 crore tribal population.

The Congress promised that in areas with more than 50 percent tribal population, provisions of the sixth schedule of the Constitution would be implemented. This says that the administration of tribal areas (of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram) would safeguard the rights of the tribal population.

The Congress also promised the extension of the PESA (Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, to Madhya Pradesh. The PESA act was launched by the Centre to ensure self-governance through gram sabhas (village bodies) for people living in scheduled areas (those with a large tribal population).

The Congress won 31 of the 47 ST seats in the  2018 assembly polls. Till 2003, the Congress owed its victories in MP — to a great extent — to the steadfast support of the various tribal communities.

But since then, the tribal vote has shifted to the BJP, ensuring its victory. In the 2018 elections, however, the Congress managed to woo back the tribals in substantial numbers.

(With assistance from Adrija Chatterjee)