The proposal for a separate state for tribal people in western India, known as “Bhil Pradesh,” has recently resurfaced. Who is driving the demand, and what is the source of it?
Bhil Pradesh is envisioned by the Bharatiya Tribal Organization (BTP), a Gujarat-based political party, as a distinct state made up of 39 districts scattered over four states: 16 in Gujarat, 10 in Rajasthan, seven in Madhya Pradesh, and six in Maharashtra.
After the Mangarh slaughter in 1913, Bhil social reformer and spiritual leader Govind Guru initially made the idea for a separate state for tribals, according to BTP Rajasthan president Dr Velaram Ghogra. The massacre, which occurred six years before Jallianwalla Bagh and is frequently referred to as the “Adivasi Jallianwala,” saw British soldiers slaughter hundreds of Bhil tribals in the hills of Mangarh on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border on November 17, 1913.
“The demand for Bhil Pradesh was voiced frequently after independence,” Ghogra stated. Somjibhai Damor, a multi-term Congress MP from Dahod; former Ratlam MP Dileep Singh Bhuria, also of the Congress; and Meghraj Tawar, a former CPI member of the Rajasthan Assembly, were among those who pushed and amplified the issue throughout the decades.
“Previously, the Dungarpur, Banswara, Udaipur region in Rajasthan and Gujarat, MP, and other areas were part of a same entity,” Ghogra added. However, political parties separated tribal majority regions after independence, preventing tribals from organising and uniting.”
Several Union administrations, according to Ghogra, have introduced different “laws, perks, programmes, and committee recommendations” on tribals throughout the years, but have been sluggish to execute them.
“There were different initiatives, such as the preservation of tribal interests under Article 244(1) of the Constitution through the Fifth Schedule,” he continued, “but most of these were just guarantees by the ruling party, whether it was the Congress or the BJP.”
The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, was highlighted by Ghogra as an example. “In 1996, the bill was passed. The law was established by the Rajasthan government in 1999, and the Rules were published in 2011. Even now, 25 years later, in my hamlet of Paldeval in Dungarpur, many are unaware of the legislation. Even the BJP and Congress’ MLAs and ministers do not have a thorough understanding of the law.”
Ghogra recalls Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot saying during the Congress’ recent Chintan Shivir in Udaipur, “Next time, the Congress would leave no stone unturned in meeting the demands of the tribals.” “The next time,” Ghogra continued, “was always the next time.” “Seventy-five years have gone, and it’s always the next time.” Parties haven’t encountered tribals outside vote bank politics since Independence.”
The Congress and BJP are both worried about the BTP, as seen by the Rajasthan Zila Parishad election results in December 2020. In Dungarpur, Rajasthan, ZP members of the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP teamed together to defeat a BTP-backed Zila Pramukh candidate; BTP-backed Independents had won 13 of the 27 seats in the Dungarpur Zila Parishad, while the BJP and Congress had won 8 and 6 seats, respectively.
One of the major goals of the BTP, which was founded in Gujarat in 2017, is to establish a distinct Bhil Pradesh. Ghogra claimed to have been intimately involved in the demand for more than a decade. To mobilise tribals and raise awareness, meetings and gatherings are organised on a regular basis.
“Both the Congress and the BJP have lost tribal youngsters’ trust,” Ghogra stated. “Now that social media has grown, you can read up on things and verify them for yourself,” he added. “Given how we’ve fared over the last 75 years, we have no choice but to form our own Bhil Pradesh.”
The BTP’s immediate demand, ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, is that the Congress send a tribal to the Upper House. “Congress sent the last tribal from our region to the Rajya Sabha decades ago: Dhuleshwar Meena,” Ghogra added.
Kanakmal Katara, who is presently the Lok Sabha MP for Banswara, was a Rajya Sabha MP from the tribal belt for the BJP.
