Lok Sabha Polls 2024: How Naveen Patnaik is going all out to win tribal votes

Patnaik-led government had announced a plan to buy minor forest produce on minimum support price (MSP) after over two-decade delay.

Concerned over possible inroads that the BJP is making among tribals, the Naveen Patnaik led Janata Dal is leaving no stone unturned to woo the tribals ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

In an attempt to neturalise BJP's political gains in tribal-dominated districts, the BJD boss has been on a touring spree unveiling a host of tribal-related schemes.

The BJP will look forward to reaping political capital and consolidating its position—it had won eight Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, six of them from key tribal regions.

How Naveen Patnaik is going all out to woo the tribals

Patnaik-led government had announced a plan to buy minor forest produce on minimum support price (MSP) after over two-decade delay. The govt also approved the formation of a commission for the preservation and promotion of tribal language. This follows the state government’s decision to withdrew over 48,000 cases lodged for the violation of excise and forest laws against tribals. The other schemes is the Laghu Bana Jatya Drabya Kraya Yojna, a 100 per cent state government funded MSP plan for minor forest produce

Possible reasons behind Naveen Patnaik’s tribal outreach

The ruling party faced massive criticism after it allowed tribals to transfer their land to non-tribals. The move was seen to favour big mining firms. Though the decision was withdrawn, it caused a major dent in the ruling BJD’s support base in Odisha. Odisha has the third largest concentration of tribal population after Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

How BJP emerged as the main Opposition party?

The BJP had replaced the Congress as the main Opposition for the first time in 2019 Assembly election, getting 22 seats, half of these, coming from tribal areas. In the Lok Sabha poll that year, the party won eight of the 21 seats with BJD getting 12 and Congress one. The BJP further tried to consolidate its position among tribals by fielding Droupadi Murmu for the President’s post as 50 out of the 147 Assembly seats are influenced by the community.

Experts estimate that over six million Scheduled Tribes is dependent on forests for their survival in Odisha. Forest provide food security for three to five months to 88 per cent of the dwellers and contribute up to 42 per cent to their annual income. Income from minor forest produce acts as the economic support for women. In Odisha, eight out of ten forest gatherers are women.

How important are tribals in Odisha politics?

Tribals comprise 22.85% of the state’s population. Thirty-three of the 147 Assembly constituencies and 5 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats are reserved for them. In 2019, the BJD and BJP had each won 2 of the reserved Lok Sabha tribal seats, while 1 was bagged by the Congress. In the simultaneous Assembly polls, the BJD and BJP bagged 18 and 11 tribal seats respectively while Congress got only 2. One each had gone to the CPI(M) and an Independent.

Revisiting past poll outcomes

In the 2019 elections, Odisha had simultaneous assembly and general elections. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) swept to power, winning 112 of the 147 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was far behind with just 23 seats, while the Congress won nine.

The BJP bettered its electoral performance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls winning 8 out of 21 seats in the state, while the BJD's performance dropped significantly from 20 seats in 2014 to just 12 seats.