gujarat elections: It’s Rahul Gandhi’s turn to head to Gujarat to woo tribals

As an exercise to strengthen the voter base in the state ahead of the crucial assembly elections due later this year, the tribal population is getting a taste of the season in Gujarat.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated several development projects in Dahod and participated in the “Adijati Maha Sammelan” last month, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal along with Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) chief of the tribal community in Bharuch addressed a meeting of Chhotu Vasava in Bharuch on May 1.

On May 10, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi is expected to address a major tribal event in Dahod. Interestingly, the BJP is organizing a three-day convention of its tribal MPs at the Statue of Unity in Kevadiya, not far from Dahod, in which all tribal MPs of the party are expected to attend.

Gujarat has about 14.8% tribal population, out of which 27 seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes. Back in 2017, the ruling party could not retain even half of these 27 seats, giving additional impetus this time around.

Traditionally, the tribal population in the state has been a strong voter base for the Congress. However, over the past two decades, the BJP has largely overthrown the party and has managed to make inroads into the state’s tribal belt, which runs along the state’s eastern border from Ambaji in the north to the Umburgs in the south.

BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas said, “We have been working with the tribals for a long time and our reach is not new.” “Through Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and others, forced conversions etc. have been stopped and development has now spread across the region,” he said.

However, on May 1, Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the tribal population in the state has been facing exploitation since independence and in the years before that.

Originally published at Pen 18