In Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, many from the tribal community are saying that they will refuse to cast their vote in this election. They accuse the government of ignoring their issues and demands that were made over the past few years.

Overlooking the picturesque Indravati River in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur District in the Bastar region, members of the tribal community are sitting in protest. They have raised various issues, including the many mining projects that they say will destroy the environment. They have also said that they face atrocities unleashed on them allegedly by the local police and security forces.

Polls will be held in Chhattisgarh on April 19, April 27 and May 7. Political leaders have now started campaigning vigorously.

However, the Adivasis say they are disappointed due to “unfulfilled promises, and killings of civilians in anti-Naxal action.” According to the Adivasis, these killings “have increased since January”.

Sitting at a protest overlooking the Indravati river, people from nearby villages have gathered and set up tents to agitate on issues they say have been ignored by the political leaders.

Speaking to The Citizen, 21-year-old Vinesh Podiyam, who is part of the protest, explained why the community has collectively decided to boycott the elections and not vote for anyone this time.

“We are protesting against the proposed projects and the projects that are currently happening around the Indravati River. One of our main concerns is that we are not even asked or consulted before any project is started.

“Not even the gram panchayats are asked. No law is followed. We are not against the projects but the due process that is not followed. We are part of the country but are considered as outsiders,” Podiyam said.

Bastar is known as the “most militarised tribal zone” in the country. This has raised concerns amidst the civil societies.

“There is so much scrutiny for us. We have to show our IDs at every point. We don’t like it,” Podiyam added.

He added that despite the fact that most leaders are from the tribal community, none of them raise the community’s concerns, or work on making the situation better.

“Our ministers are tribals themselves but they don’t even raise our concerns in the Parliament, so what is the point in voting for them,” Podiyam asked.

The election for the 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh — Janjgir, Korba, Raigarh, Surguja, Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, Kanker, Durg, Raipur, Bilaspur, and Bastar—will be held in three phases on April 19, April 26, and May 7. The State has 2.05 crore voters, with women marginally outnumbering men.

The sentiment of not voting this time was shared by others in the community who felt that their elected representatives do not raise their concerns and have left the people to fend off for themselves.

“Nobody is forcing people not to vote. We ourselves do not see the point in voting,” Sunita, who was part of the protest, said.

She also raised concerns of the proposed projects averring that despite protesting for the past three years, the government officials have not paid attention to their demands.

“We are stopped from moving around, from following our customs and rituals, which is why we protested. There are many corporate projects that have come up and we are also protesting against them as they will destroy nature,” she said.

Chhattisgarh is divided into five divisions. Bastar is in the south of Chhattisgarh, while Sarguja is in its north, which is a tribal dominant region.

Plain divisions of the state include Raipur, Bilaspur and Durg. Tribals constitute 32 per cent of the state population, and 29 seats have been reserved for them. Bastar and Sarguja have 26 seats, out of which 20 are reserved for the tribal: 11 at Bastar and 09 at Sarguja.

Despite the overwhelming Saffron sentiment in towns and cities, the tribal population have decided not to side with anyone.

Speaking to The Citizen Raghu Midiyami, the leader of Mulwasi Bachao Manch said that the ‘virodh’ (protest) is their only way to register their vote.

He also said that while most of the people are boycotting the elections, many others cannot vote as they have no Aadhar or voter ID card.

“I don’t have an Aadhaar or voter ID card, how will I vote even if I want to,” he asked.

The Citizen spoke to many villagers who said that they do not have voter ID cards and hence won’t be able to vote in elections.

“They can set up booths here but for Sadhaar or voter ID cards they expect us to travel far away. Many of us do not have any cards and so we don't vote,” Anantram Atani, who had also joined the protest from a nearby village, told The Citizen.

However, not everyone holds the same sentiment. Montu Salam, a resident of Geedam village said that he along with others in the village always support the Congress party.

“We tribals are suffering a lot and since Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come to power, things have become difficult. I personally support Congress and was disappointed when they did not win this time. I hope they are able to bounce back this time,” Salame said.

On asking whether he will also boycott elections like others in the community, Salam said although he supports the boycott, he would vote. “We have the right to vote and I still believe in the constitution. Hence, I will vote this time,” he added.

In 2003, the BJP found the key to political power through Bastar and Surguja regions. The party had won 9 seats out of 12 at Bastar and 10 seats out of 14 at Sarguja.

Notably, all the seats won by the BJP were reserved for tribals. The BJP had won 25 out of 29 seats reserved for the tribals.

The BJP ruled for three continuous terms and was able to maintain its grip over the regions of Bastar and Sarguja. In 2008, BJP was able to win one more seat: 11 at Bastar and 09 at Sarguja.

In 2013, however, the party could win only four seats at Bastar and seven seats at Sarguja. In 2008 and 2013, of the tribal reserved seats, the BJP won 19 and 12 seats, respectively.

The BJP retained most of the seats it had won in the tribal belt of Surguja and Bastar in 2003, till 2013. As a result, the BJP came to power for three consecutive terms by winning 50 seats in 2003, 50 in 2008, and 49 in 2013.

The Congress got an unprecedented victory in the region in 2018 by winning 25 of the 26 seats. Congress won 25 tribal reserved seats. There were expectations that the Congress would repeat its win in the region of Surguja and Bastar in 2023.

However, despite the claims of Congress’ reach in Chhattisgarh, the BJP made a massive comeback, shocking even experts. The BJP won 54 seats while the Congress managed to win 35 seats in the 90-member Assembly.

However, for the Adivasi community, the situation remains the same. “With BJP coming, the number of encounters have increased but things were no better during the Congress reign. Many people, including human right activists were jailed during the time. It was claimed they had connections with Naxals. For us, the [political] party changes not the situation,” Midiyami said.

It is also to be noted that while many tribals are boycotting the elections, there is still a large percentage that the BJP has been able to persuade.

According to experts in the region, the tribal vote over the past few years has been divided, mostly due to BJP making “conversion” a big issue.

Due to this a major share of vote share, according to experts will fall into BJP’s lap.

The tribals of the state have been divided into three different categories. The first are those who neither consider themselves Hindus nor Christians; the second believe in Hinduism; and the third follow Christianity.

It is the ones who do not consider themselves into any religious category, who are boycotting the elections. The rest of the vote share is divided.

Chhattisgarh has also seen major violence towards the Christian community in the state, wherein according to the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, there were 380 cases of attacks and harassment of Christians in the first three years of the Congress government.

For the tribal community, camps are also a major cause of concern for which they are also protesting. The issue has been raised by many tribal activists and leaders. Many want this to become an election issue as well.

Various camps have been set up in what police call the heavily Naxal zones, to curb Maoists’ movements and limit their activities in south Bastar. South and west Bastar regions are considered to be the last strongholds of Naxals in Chhattisgarh.

Most of these camps are inhabited by CRPF and police forces, which the tribals say will curb their movement instead of the Naxals’.

“We do not want camps. In our own homes we cannot move around because of these camps. We are harassed, called Naxals and thrown in jails without evidence, which is why we are protesting these camps,” Podium added.

Out of the 19 camps, eight are in Bijapur, six in Sukma, three in Narayanpur and one each in Kanker and Dantewada. There are more than 60 camps in Bastar region alone, however the community members say the numbers might be more.

Nandini Sundar, a professor at Delhi University explained during a Press Meet on ‘corporate takeover of Natural Resources’, “in the region of Bastar, there is a security camp every 2-3 km. The security camps there are surrounded by barbed wires just like a concentration camp.

“Trees are felled and the camps are constructed at night and suddenly start being operational from a random day. When we asked the district collector and the Information Bureau about the reason for setting these camps at night without any notice, they used the same old excuse of ‘security.”

Bela Bhatia, human rights advocate and activist based in Dantewada, said that the tribal issue is not only limited to Chhattisgarh but the whole country.

“There is a question in front of the whole country. The difficulties we are facing in our democracy are being faced by the whole country. Anyone who loves and respects freedom and democracy needs to think not only for themselves but also for the tribals here so that they can live,” Bhatia said.

Experts believe that the election boycott had impacted the Assembly elections and the impact can be seen in Lok Sabha elections as well.

Speaking to The Citizen, Poonam Masiah, an independent journalist covering Chhattisgarh said in Bastar region one of the reasons in Congress vote share was the boycott elections by the tribals.

“The Congress was thinking that by ignoring the pleas of the Adivasi community, it won’t matter but if you see the result, you can actually see the impact it had specifically in Bastar region,” she said.

She added that wherever there are protests happening, Congress has lost seats in those areas, this includes Narayanpur, where at least three major protests are happening, which also includes the one near the Indravati river.

“In Kanker as well, where people are protesting, major vote share impact was seen during Vidhan Sabha [elections]and is expected to be seen during Lok Sabha [elections] as well. The tribal community is hell bent on not voting due to the ongoing violence against them including the rise in fake encounters, which the political leaders are realising is becoming bigger,” Masiah added.

There is anger and helplessness among the tribal community, who allege human rights violations on them with no one to hear their plea. In such a situation, choosing to boycott the elections seems like the only solution.

Meanwhile, just ahead of elections, the people have alleged that the Chhattisgarh Police is clearing the protest sites. As of now, four protest sites have been removed, while on Saturday, a protest site in Narayanpur (Bastar), was reportedly demolished.

Pinki, Deputy Secretary of Adivasi Adhikar Bachao Manch at Morohnar (Orchha Block, Narayanpur) protest site said that on April 6, “the security forces destroyed our protest site and pushed people away.”

She alleged that around 1500-2000 paramilitary of DRG, Bastar Fighters, and ITBP came and destroyed their protest site".

A sit-in Protest at Morohnar has been going on for more than a year against mining in Amdai Ghati Hills, the widening of roads and construction of camps in the region. The locals have been demanding the implementation of the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) and 5th Schedule of the Constitution.

Masiah said that the protest site was also the place where the CPI-M and Congress leaders had gone to ask for votes, assuring the people that they would work on their issues, if they win. However, the people boycotted the elections even then.

“It is imperative to understand that the local people have been killed in the name of Naxalites. There have been incidents where kids have been killed, which the police said was crossfire, this has created more resentment among the Adivasi community,” she added.

The people also told The Citizen, no candidate ever comes to even ask for votes in their village. “We don’t even have voter ID cards, how can we expect these politicians to come to our village and ask for votes,” Sunita added.

Ironically, the Congress has lashed out at BJP, averring they have “failed” to protect the rights of tribals in the state. The comments came on Monday as Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to Prime Minister Modi ahead of his rally in Bastar.

Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "failed" to protect the rights of tribal communities in Chhattisgarh and asked whether he will ever meaningfully commit himself to tribal welfare.

“The dealings of the BJP here (Bastar) have shown that their friendship with corporate cronies runs much deeper than their sense of duty to the people

"We hope that the PM can shed some light on why he has failed to protect the rights of tribal communities in the state," Ramesh said.

He claimed that the dense, biodiversity-rich Hasdeo Aranya forest, considered the "lungs of the state" are under threat from the BJP and their "favourite crony", Adani Enterprises.

"When the Congress Party was in power, we had 40 coal blocks in this forest cancelled by the Union Coal Ministry to protect the sacred forest. Since the BJP has returned, they have reversed this decision and restarted mining in the Adani-owned Parsa coal block, despite fierce protests from Adivasi groups and activists," he alleged.

Leaders of the protest point out that the destruction of Hasdeo Aranya would cause irreparable damage to the Adivasi communities’ livelihood, as well as severe damage to the environment and to wildlife, with a possible worsening of human-elephant conflict, he said.

"How can the PM and the BJP so callously jeopardise the well-being of the Adivasi communities of Chhattisgarh," Ramesh asked.

The Adivasi community has been protesting against the cutting of trees in the Hasdeo-Arand forest.

Led by Adivasis in the Hasdeo-Arand forest of Chhattisgarh against coal mining by Adani Enterprises Limited, the movement has been ongoing for some 13 years. The latest trigger was logging – cutting, processing, and moving trees – conducted over 137 hectares for phase two of coal mining in the Parsa East and Kete Basan coal blocks.

All Photographs NIKITA JAIN

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