Opinion: Dalits showed strategy on reservation, then why did tribals stay with BJP?

Author: Dipankar Gupta
This time in the Lok Sabha elections, Dalits i.e. Scheduled Castes (SC) voted against BJP. They feared that if NDA government is formed again, it will abolish reservation. But this is not the case with tribals i.e. Scheduled Tribes (ST). Looking at the election results, it seems that a large part of Dalit voters voted against BJP NDA candidates not only in general but also in special seats. Such a stampede was seen among them against BJP as if a fire alarm had rung. Although all this had started even before the election game started properly, but tribal voters remained firmly with BJP. It is surprising that they completely ignored the possibility of abolition of reservation. After all, if this reservation is removed, then tribals will also have to suffer as much as tribals. Despite this, NDA performed well in those seats where the average of tribal voters is more than the national average.

The UP Lok Sabha results clearly show that the SCs have deserted the NDA. The BJP-led alliance lost 17 of the 22 seats in UP, where the SC population is more than 20%. These setbacks did not kill the BJP, but severely hurt it. The extent of the blow can be gauged from the fact that the BJP candidate lost even in Ayodhya, where a grand Ram temple was built and this transformed the area. The BJP had won Ayodhya in the assembly elections.

Let us compare this with the NDA’s performance in six major states with a higher tribal population than the national average. The NDA won resoundingly in all these states – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and Tripura. The NDA could have been wiped out in Jharkhand but there was no sympathy wave in favour of the opposition camp after the arrest of CM Hemant Soren.

Such comparisons reveal some surprising facts. These facts lead us to the disturbing conclusion that even though both SCs and STs get the benefit of reservation, their world is not the same. The first reason that immediately comes to mind is that STs do not have a national hero like Babasaheb Ambedkar like SCs. Ambedkar is the name of a great personality who courageously led the Constitution-making team from the front.

However, this does not fully explain why the STs did not become as restless as the SCs when the fear of abolition of reservations gained momentum. It is also absolutely true that the STs are also poor. They have also been historically deprived, but their social backwardness does not come from ‘lowly occupations’ but from geographical distance.

Even today, about 80% of the scheduled tribes are in the primary sector (occupations such as agriculture, forestry and fishing). Statistically, more than 53% of the tribal population is in these occupations as compared to the general population. In fact, the tribals used to be the rulers in pre-modern India. According to anthropologist and Gandhian activist NK Bose, they were considered Kshatriyas. Some of them still exist today and no one points a finger at them.

Then there are tribes like the Munda, Tana Bhagat and Tripuri, who were introduced to Hinduism through the Bhakti movement. They were never considered inferior by the neighbouring Hindus while some castes like the Pahari Bhuiyan enjoyed a respected status. It is also claimed that the Jagannath cult of Odisha also has a tribal past. The president of the Akhil Adivasi Sanskritik Samiti claimed in 1973 that many Hindu deities are actually Santhals.

Not only are the Hindu-minded Gonds of western Odisha considered a ‘clean’ caste, but tribals such as the Bhils also appear in the royal regalia of Mewar and Kushalgarh, where they fought shoulder to shoulder with the Rajputs. The most famous Bhil is Rana Punja, who is said to have fought on horseback alongside the mighty Maharana Pratap in the Battle of Haldighati.

These historical characteristics of the Scheduled Tribes are the reason why their response to the threat of reservation has not been as pronounced as that of the Scheduled Castes. Unlike the Adivasis, the Dalits have always been part of Hindu society and have been consigned to so-called ‘small’ and ‘dirty’ occupations. As a result, the path to respect for the Scheduled Castes has been primarily through education and employment and rising to the upper echelons of society. This is why they are very cautious about reservations.

There is also a consensus among experts that this fundamental difference between the Scheduled Castes and Tribes is the reason why they have not yet been able to form a common leadership despite their similar difficulties. Yet, the irony is that even though they are not underestimated by the wider Hindu society like the Scheduled Castes, it is a different matter that the Scheduled Tribes are lagging much behind on many developmental indices such as education, representation and stable employment.

The local distance from the ‘mainstream’ economy and politics puts the Adivasis at a great disadvantage. In contrast, Dalits are in daily contact with the wider society. This has enabled Dalits to manipulate the power equations better than Adivasis. If reservation did not affect the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to such an extent, we would ignore the differences between SCs and STs. From the outside, they both look poor, but in the words of Leo Tolstoy, ‘All rich communities are alike, but each poor community is poor in its own way.’

The author is a sociologist.