UPA Wants Tribals To Be "Integrated" In Mainstream As Opposed to Sangh Parivar's "Assimilation"
By Sanjay Sharma, Section UPA - United Progressive Alliance
Posted on Sun Dec 12, 2004 at 04:27:28 AM EST
The UPA government's draft tribal policy's conclusion that is the key to the UPA's approach to the subject, one that strikes at the core of the BJP's ideology. If the BJP-led NDA government's document had spoken of working towards "assimilation" of the tribal population—part of its Hindutva project—"integration" is the UPA's politically correct substitute.
Today, it's not just the electoral erosion that's causing concern for the UPA government. It's also worried about popular upsurge in tribal areas. After years of neglect, Naxalism has found a home in some tribal districts and separatist voices continue to grow among the northeastern tribals. All this has shaken the Congress. So even as India's tribals, accounting for 84.51 million or 8.14 per cent of the population across 15 states, subsist on the edge, their call for 'lebensraum' has become the battleground of ideologies—with conflicting politics facing off for more 'living space'.
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- Kyndiah, a tribal from Meghalaya, is clear that his ministry will not try to woo tribals to Hinduism. "Whether in the Northeast or in the mainland, the tribals have their own indigenous religions, their own faith, own gods and goddesses, own style of worship, which is different from Hinduism," he says. Indeed, just before the general elections, Congress MP Madhusudan Mistry and scientist, educationist and planner D.Swaminadhan—both tribals—prepared a report on tribal affairs for the party manifesto. Since then, Swaminadhan, now on Sonia Gandhi's National Advisory Council, has written a concept paper on strategies to translate the poll promises into action. The draft tribal policy prepared by the NDA government has been re-examined and an "additional paper for seminar on draft national policy for tribals"—which reflects the ideological shift and restores the primacy of the Nehruvian Panchsheel (which was dismissed in the NDA document as being "long on generalities and short on specifics")—has been readied.
- PM Manmohan Singh set up a standing committee on tribal affairs under Planning Commission member Bhalchandra Mungekar in October. The committee's significance can be gauged from the fact that apart from the PM's principal secretary T.K. Nair and the secretaries of the ministries of law, tribal affairs, rural development and panchayati raj, the PM's internal security adviser M.K. Narayanan and the home secretary are members. Clearly, the UPA wishes to accelerate development in areas where Naxalism and separatism flourishes. As Mungekar puts it: "Economic development is one of the surest ways of preventing tribals from taking to violence."
- The BJP line is that tribals are a part of Hindu society, with former MOS for environment Dilip Singh Judeo and the RSS affiliates—the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad—organising "homecomings" of Christian tribals at mass reconversion ceremonies. Kyndiah's predecessor, the BJP's Jual Oram, a tribal from Orissa, is not with the new minister on this. "All this is said to create confusion among tribals, especially by Christian missionaries—tribals are a part of Hindu society and they worship the same gods even though their style of worship is different." Referring to the BJP's 'assimilation' approach, he says, "We want to bring the tribals into the mainstream while preserving their culture and traditions. What we want to emphasise is that their culture is not outside Bharatiya culture." After coming to power at the Centre in 1998, the BJP pushed through the creation of two tribal states, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. On returning to power in 1999, it set up a separate tribal affairs ministry—the first since independence—and began work on a national tribal policy.
The Congress, thriving for years on the tribal-friendly legacy of Nehru and Indira, saw no reason to exert itself as traditionally the tribal constituencies voted for the party. But it can't take things for granted anymore. Regional parties such as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand and the Gondwana Gantantra Party in Madhya Pradesh, on the one hand, and the BJP, on the other, are eating into the tribal pie.
- As former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi puts it: "Politically conscious tribals began to feel that national parties like the Congress weren't addressing their aspirations. Meanwhile, the BJP through institutions like the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Saraswati Shishu Mandirs began to make inroads. There is need to build a tall tribal leadership."
From Outlook India - Issue of December 20, 2004 - by SMITA GUPTA
UPA Wants Tribals To Be "Integrated" In Mainstream As Opposed to Sangh Parivar's "Assimilation"
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