Congress to reach among tribals to repair expected dent after BJP’s play of trump card as Draupadi Murmu

BHOPAL / In a bid to neutralise the dent that may have been expected after the BJP’s trump cards play as Draupadi Murmu for the Presidential post of India to woo the tribals, Madhya Pradesh Congress will reach out to the tribal community across the state by celebrating the World’s Tribal Day(WTD) on 9 August.

Pradesh Congress Committee(PCC) president Kamal Nath has issued a letter directing the party’s district chiefs to observe the World’s Tribal Day in their respective districts and go among the tribal community. While former Chief Minister Nath himself will attend a mega celebration being organised in tribal district Alirajpur. During his tour, Nath will also visit Bhavra village, the birthplace of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad, on the occasion of the anniversary of the ‘Quit India Movement’. He will also visit Patalpani in Indore to pay tribute to Adivasi icon, Tantya (bhil) Mama who also known as Indian Robin Hood.  Party MLAs will be being attended the celebration along with Nath.

The state has the highest number of tribals in the country, about 21.5 per cent of the state’s population their support can make political parties’ fortune. Congress won 31 seats out of 47 reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) out of a total of 230 seats in the 2018 Assembly polls and returned to power after 15 years while BJP managed only 16 seats.

It is considered that tribal support was one of the major factors behind Congress’s victory in the 2018 Assembly polls. The tribal voters hold key to securing power in the state the previous elections’ results prove this phenomenon. In 2003, BJP unseated a two-term Congress CM Digvijaya Singh, it won 90 per cent ST seats. The saffron party secured 60 and 66 per cent of seats out of the total reserved for the tribal community in the 2008 and 2013 Assembly elections respectively and came to power both times.

“Our party has always been taking care of the Adivasi community since its inception. The celebration of WTD by the party on a large scale is to pay respect to the community. A government holiday on the WTD was started by Kamal Nath Ji during his regime but it has been ended by the BJP government”, president of state Congress’ media cell K K Mishra told The Sun Today. “Congress will also commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Quit India Movement on the day by visiting the birthplace of freedom struggle leader, Azad Ji, Mishra added.

Apart from playing the trump cards of seating Murmu who also hails from the tribal community on the Presidential post, the BJP organisation and its state government, which came to power after toppling the Nath-led Congress regime in 2018, have desperately been trying to woo the Adivasi voters through largely increasing the representation of the community in the organisation and by launching several schemes for their welfare respectively. The government has also started many projects to pay respect to them by highlighting the participation of tribal leaders in the freedom struggle.