Tribal communities, a big electorate in Madhya Pradesh, remain in focus of local politics as the ruling BJP plans to continue with events to woo them, while the Congress is attempting to get its act together by holding a meet of tribal MLAs and party office bearers from tribal blocks in the state.
After the mega event in Bhopal on November 15 to mark the Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas (the birth anniversary of martyr Birsa Munda) held in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP-led state government will be holding another big event on the conclusion of the week-long celebrations on November 22 in tribal-dominated Mandla.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will attend the programme and also distribute benefits of various schemes to tribal people. There are plans to gather hundreds of tribal community members for this event.
The state government will also be holding an event at Patalpani in Mhow (Indore district) on December 4 to mark the martyrdom day of freedom fighter Tantya Bhil, who was born in Khandwa district. The chief minister announced the event on Thursday on social media and said the event would ensure that the memory of the martyr lives on and people get motivation for patriotism and serving the poor.
Meanwhile, the Congress is trying to get its act together to ensure that the tribal voters who had swayed towards the party in 2018 Assembly polls remain with them for the 2023 polls. On November 24, the Congress is planning to hold a meeting of tribal MLAs and the office bearers of the 89-tribal dominated seats, in the presence of MP Congress chief and ex-chief minister Kamal Nath.
Though the Congress holds 30 out of 47 tribal seats in the state Assembly, a loss in Jobat—an ST-reserved seat considered its stronghold—during the recent bypolls came as a shock to the party. BJP won Jobat but seemed to lose out on overall tribal votes in the Khandwa Lok Sabha seat as its winning margin came down to 82,000 from over 2.75 lakhs in 2019 general elections. Four of the eight Assembly segments in Khandwa LS seat are ST-reserved.
Given the situation, both the parties have actively taken up wooing of the tribal voters, considering them the key to get a majority in the 2023 Assembly polls.
The Congress's attempt to hold a simultaneous tribal convention on November 15 (Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas) in Jabalpur elicited a dull response, though its rally in Barwani in September had drawn a good crowd. BJP had in September held an event in Jabalpur in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
