The Hindu : Tribal party woos Gond vote in M.P.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

Tribal party woos Gond vote in M.P.

Aarti Dhar

MANDLA, M.P.

The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) is expected to play an important role in deciding the outcome of the elections in the Gondwana region of Madhya Pradesh. The Party's influence is likely to be felt most in the Chhindwada, Balaghat and Mandla Lok Sabha constituencies where 60 per cent of the voters are from the tribes, particularly the Gonds. If they do choose to vote in bulk for the GGP, then the prospects of both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress could be seriously damaged. It is little wonder then that the Congress is keen on reaching an understanding with the GGP in the region, or at least on the Chhindwada seat, from where the Congress stalwart Kamal Nath is contesting.

Though the GG Party had not made much impact in the Assembly elections, it won three seats in the Zilla Panchayat elections.

This time round, the GGP has adopted a new policy to woo tribal voters. The party is trying to consolidate the tribal vote by organising a `mahasabha' of the tribal people in the coming days where the participants will be asked to vote en masse for the GGP.

Established by a Gond tribal, Hira Singh Markam, the party expects to get a massive chunk of votes in the tribal belt. Given that it was the tribal vote that helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to wrest power from the Congress in the state, the BJP could be at the receiving end in the Lok Sabha elections.

As of now, the party workers have been busy exploiting the voters' sentiments by invoking in them the fear of their deity `Bada Dev'. "Besides telling the voters to ensure Bada Dev's victory in the Lok Sabha elections, they are told that if the deity `loses', it could incur his wrath,'' says a BJP activist, who is also a tribal. Being a closely-knit society, the people are also threatened with social sanctions if they are found to be associated with any other political party.

The activists are going from village to village explaining to the people that they are not Hindus and have an identity of their own.

Pictures of the tribal deity `Bada Dev' under a Sal tree with party workers giving sermons is a common sight in the tribal villages.

Literature on `Bada Dev' is distributed freely and so are key chains, pendants, shampoo sachets, matchboxes and other trinkets carrying pictures of the deity on them.

The party recently endorsed a proposal asking the people to remove the pictures of Hindu deities from their houses, and not to celebrate Hindu festivals like Holi, Diwali and Raksha Bandhan besides addressing each other as `Jai Bada Dev' instead of `Jai Ram'. Observers believe that if nothing else, the activists of the GGP have helped in checking conversions.

The GGP had two Assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, one of whom defected to Congress while Hira Singh Markam himself lost.

The party has virtually wound up its operations in the State and is fully concentrating on Madhya Pradesh.

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