Opinion | Droupadi Murmu, Vishnu Deo Sai, Mohan Majhi: Saffron Tribe Keeps Growing

On her way to receiving the Padma Shri at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on March 22, 2023, Hirabai Ibrahim Lobi of the Siddi tribe stopped before a bowed Narendra Modi and said: “My community lives in the jungles and no one asks about their living conditions. Such an honour was unthinkable for us.”

Lodi’s Siddi tribe lives mainly in and around Gujarat’s Junagadh and traces its roots to Africa.

Article 342 of the Indian Constitution states that there are over 700 Scheduled Tribes (ST) in India. The 2011 Census counts around 104 million Adivasis, comprising 8.6 per cent of India’s population.

Year after year, Padma awards under the Modi government have showcased India’s tribal power and vibrancy. This year, for instance, tribal environmentalist from Jharkhand Chami Murmu will receive the Padma Shri for planting over three million trees. So will Somanna, the 66-year-old tribal leader of the Jenu Kuruba community from Mysuru, on whose fight for land rights a movie has been made.

But Padma awards are not the only thing that the Modi government, which Rahul Gandhi accused of shortchanging India’s tribes, has offered them.

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently posted on X pointing out that excluding tribal-dominated Northeastern states, the Congress had appointed no tribal chief minister in the last 24-25 years. The BJP, in contrast, had given four tribal chief ministers including Sarbananda Sonowal in Assam, Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda in Jharkhand, Vishnu Deo Sai in Chhattisgarh, and most recently Mohan Charan Majhi in Odisha, he pointed out. The current President of India, Droupadi Murmu, was nominated by the BJP, while the party had supported PA Sangma who lost the 2012 presidential battle. The Congress had opposed both, Vaishnaw recalled.

Last year, Home Minister Amit Shah had said the allocation for tribal welfare under PM Modi has gone up to Rs 89,000 crore from Rs 24,000 crore during the UPA government.

According to government data, more than 200 NGOs working on tribal health, education and livelihood got over Rs 900 crore under nearly 250 welfare schemes in the last 10 years. More than 9,000 camps were organised in 120 tribal-dominated districts in the first 75 days of the launch of the PM-JANMAN Mission and over 13 lakh tribals enrolled under various schemes.

While these are cold numbers, the fire of inspiration for tribal welfare comes from the BJP’s ideological mentor, the RSS.

The Hindutva movement has always maintained that tribals or Adivasis were part of the Sanatan Dharma fold. There are numerous mentions of tribal heroes and protagonists in the Ramayan and Mahabharat. From Nishadraj Guhan who arranged boats to ferry Shri Ram, Lakshman and Ma Sita to elderly ascetic Shabari, and from the great archer Ekalavya to Lord Hanuman as a tribal deity, the epics are full of mentions of the original inhabitants of Bharat.

In 1592, government official Ramakant Keshav (Balasaheb) Deshpande started the Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA) backed by the RSS in Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur with a new hostel and 13 tribal boys residing in it. It was to counter the lure of missionary schools which were known to convert tribal students.

VKA now operates in more than 320 districts. It is a bulwark against conversion. It also revives indigenous customs, rituals, seeds, songs, medicine, and games.

The RSS and the BJP have also been tirelessly mining tribal heroes and freedom fighters from Birsa Munda to Rani Gaidinliu, Tilka Majhi to Matmur Jamoh.

Odisha CM Mohan Majhi and Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai are the latest examples of that silent, gritty saffron outreach across several decades. Many swayamsevaks have been killed for just trying to connect with these communities. But they won’t give up, till the sound from the conch shell becomes one with the distant, primal beat of the drums.

Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.