MODI EFFECT LOOSENS CONG HOLD ON GUJARAT’S TRIBAL BELT
Friday, 25 April 2014 | Nayan Dave | VAGHAI (TRIBAL BELT IN GUJARAT)
The over 400km-long tribal belt in Gujarat flanking three States — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra — has been traditionally considered a Congress bastion. But with Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate around, the rules of the game seem to have changed.
Known for his long-term strategies, Modi had systematically started reaching out to the tribals in the State, who comprise 14 per cent of the electors, immediately after the 2007 Gujarat Assembly elections. The BJP now hopes to reap the benefits of that effort in nine tribal dominated Lok Sabha seats.Gujarat’s tribal belt, locally known as “Purvpatti” (Eastern Belt), is spread across three regions of the State right from Ambaji in the North, to Godhra in Central Gujarat to Umargaon in the South and comprises four important parliamentary constituencies — Dahod, Chhota Udepur, Bardoli and Valsad. Three of these, barring Chhota Udepur, are with the Congress.
Besides these tribal reserved seats, Adivasi voters constitute a sizeable proportion in as many as five other Lok Sabha constituencies, Sabarkantha, Banaskantha, Panchmahals, Bharuch and Navsari, all of which are with the BJP at present. With the saffron party aiming to bag all 26 seats in the State to ensure the emergence of an NDA Government at the Centre, the BJP cadres have a huge responsibility ahead of not only retaining the five tribal influenced constituencies but to convert three Congress seats in favour of the BJP.
In fact, the BJP started working towards it three years ago. In the tribal district of Dangs, six Christian candidates contested the local panchayat polls on BJP tickets. During public rallies in the Adivasi dominated districts, Modi started exhorting electors to compare the development in the region over the past decade with the previous five decades. Much to the discomfort of the Congress, Modi’s development plank appealed to them all.To rub salt on the Congress’ wounds, the BJP not only roped in strong tribal leader and local Congress MLA Prabhu Vasava but also fielded him against sitting Bardoli MP and Union Minister Tushar Chaudhary.
“Under the Van Bandhu scheme launched by Modi the tribal areas got uninterrupted power, water connections, irrigation facilities and better roads. Modi also focused on Garib Kalyan Melas which helped him woo tribal voters,” said a senior BJP leader.Melvyn Mcwan, a tribal from Dangs, admits that conflicts between Hindu organizations like the VHP and Sangh cadres with Christian missionaries erupted in 1998, but Modi ignored it and focused on the overall development of tribals.
Similarly, the Modi Government’s initiatives on eco-tourism in the forest-rich tribal areas also helped the locals economically. Gujarat’s only hill-station, Saputara in Dangs district bordering Maharashtra, is being promoted successfully by Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan.When this resulted into an increase in tourists from all across the country, it simultaneously contributed to the tribal economy, claims KC Patel, BJP’s candidate from the tribal-dominated Valsad constituency.
Compared to the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is clearly better placed in the 2014 general elections. Then, rising migration of tribal people to urban areas and crisis of leadership in the Congress in the Eastern Belt are two other factors that have strengthened the BJP’s position in these nine Lok Sabha constituencies.Growing urbanization has also helped the BJP increase its tally in the tribal belt. Of the total 182 Assembly constituencies, 27 fall in the reserved Schedule Tribe category, while 15 others have good tribal population. The result indicates rise of BJP in the region with 19 seats, though the Congress won 22 seats - it was a major dent in Congress’ bastion. One seat went to Janata Dal (United).
In view of the changing contours in its bastion, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has deployed her most trusted lieutenant and political advisor Ahmed Patel to combat the challenge. Patel was an MP from the tribal-influenced Bharuch constituency thrice which is also his native place.“Ahmed is focusing on interior tribal areas of Central and South Gujarat. Though he is in touch with all 26 Congress candidates in Gujarat, he has dug his heels in Bharuch instead of Ahmedabad to personally oversee the tribal areas,” said Manish Doshi, Gujarat Congress spokesman.
Just a scratch on the surface will reveal the change on the ground. Dharmesh Vasava, all of 23, from Gandit Village in Netrang area under Bharuch district, says earlier tribals used to follow the diktat of their leaders or the village sarpanch to cast their vote. No longer so, he says, adding that increasing education levels have given them the confidence to pick their candidate. For instance, 50-year-old Jivubhai Chaudhry, a resident of Dodi Pada Village, just 50 km away from the Maharashtra border, quips that earlier they knew only the Congress party, but now they have options and better too.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/todays-newspaper/modi-effect-loosens-cong-hold-on-gujarats-tribal-belt.html
No comments:
Post a Comment