Congress rushes to reclaim support of Dalits, tribals

Congress appears to be in a rush to reclaim its losing support among Dalits and tribals, which once formed its core base, with the party’s urgency seen in Rahul Gandhi using the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s platform to reach out to the deprived groups.

In less than two weeks, Rahul has addressed rallies and programmes to honour tribal icons Birsa Munda and Tantia Mama as well as the father of Indian Constitution B R Ambedkar. He addressed a couple of ‘adivasi sammelans’ in Maharashtra and as well as in Madhya Pradesh, where the yatra has completed five days.

On Saturday, the 80th day of the Kanyakumari to Kashmir yatra that started on September 7, Congress brought the Bharat Jodo Yatra to Mhow, the birthplace of Ambedkar, where Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge visited his ‘Janmabhoomi Smarak’ and addressed a public gathering.

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The symbolism was not lost as the Congress chose November 26, the day when the Constituent Assembly adopted the Indian Constitution. This comes at a time the ruling BJP is making all efforts to cement the support it has managed to attract from Dalits in the past eight years under the Narendra Modi government.

Rahul made it clear to the gathering that the RSS and BJP fold their hands before Ambedkar’s portraits but stab him from behind, and cited how Mahatma Gandhi is now being “revered” by the Sangh Parivar while claiming that its ideology led to his assassination. He also repeated arguments of how the Sangh was depriving the tribals of their rights by calling them ‘vanvasis’ and not ‘adivasis’.

Kharge, himself a Dalit, put out a strong statement which included a portion that spoke about how those following RSS ideology are against reservations for Dalits, tribals and backwards and that attacks against Dalits and adivasis are celebrated.

While Rahul is invoking Ambedkar regularly at his public addresses as part of the yatra and how institutions are being targeted by the Modi government, Rahul is also keen to project the ‘adivasi’ icons. He is trying to put the BJP on the mat over its characterisation of ‘adivasis’ as ‘vanvasis’.

On Birsa Munda’s birth anniversary, he addressed a public meeting and even used the iconic tribal leader who refused to surrender to the British to target V D Savarkar for his mercy petition to the colonial rulers. Similarly, a tribal hero from Madhya Pradesh who fought the colonial masters, Tantia Mama was also remembered by the Congress as the yatra entered Madhya Pradesh.

While the tribal support to the Congress has not fully shifted to the BJP, there is a fear that the specific attempts by the RSS can harm the main Opposition party, as the former tries to bring the ‘adivasis’ into the larger Hindutva fold. A large proportion of Dalits in North India is learnt to have shifted to the BJP, if Congress leaders are to be believed and they want to bring them back to their fold.

Rahul’s outreach to the tribals and Dalits during the yatra, Congress leaders believe, will positively impact the party.

Rahul’s emphasis on Dalit and tribal icons also are becoming an educative exercise for some of the yatris. “I did not know much about Tantia Mama earlier but now, thanks to the yatra, of which I am a part from Kanyakumari, I have learnt about some icons,” said G Geetakrishna, a Kerala leader who is a delegate walking from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.