MP polls: Battling in Malwa-Nimar for game changer tribal vote, BJP, Congress run into rebels in fray

A surgeon by training, Vikrant is facing a stiff challenge in Jhabua in the tribal-dominated Nimar belt, where the Congress has been beset with dissension. He lost from the seat in the 2018 election due to party leader Xavier Meda’s rebellion. Kantilal wrested Jhabua from the BJP by winning it in a bypoll in 2019.

In the November 17 Assembly election, the ruling BJP has fielded a lawyer Bhanu Bhuria from Jhabua, who is also grappling with rebellion as Som Singh Solanki, the party’s district general secretary, is set to contest the seat as an Independent candidate.

A map of the Malwa-Nimar region in Madhya Pradesh

In 2018, the Congress came to power in a close contest after it made inroads into the BJP bastion of the Malwa-Nimar region, which

accounts for 66 out of the state’s 230 seats. Of 22 tribal-dominated seats in this region, the Congress had won 14 seats, pushing the BJP’s tally down to 7 seats. In the 2013 polls, the BJP had won 15 seats as against the Congress’s 6.

However, with the two front-runners reeling from dissidence and infighting in his election, the contests have turned triangular in several seats.

The BJP has grappled with widespread internal protests with a number of aspirants in six seats resigning from the party over ticket denial. The saffron party sent some of its senior leaders to the region for “troubleshooting” with Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself overseeing this process.

The Congress is also faced with resentment of its activists in a slew of seats, with resignations being reported from five seats. When the party, in an apparent bid for “course correction”, changed its candidates in seven seats, it led to several resignations as disappointed aspirants wept before their supporters, joined smaller parties or turned Independent.

Nev Singh Damor 42, a farmer from Charolipada village has not been able to charge his phone because of power cuts (Express Photo)

In fact, Kantilal himself had turned a rebel and fought as an Independent from Jhabua in 2003, which had then led to the Congress candidate’s defeat.

In 2008, Meda won from Jhabua, defeating the BJP’s candidate, but lost in 2013.

Meda then turned against Kantilal, alleging that the latter encouraged his niece Kalavati Bhuria to contest against him as an Independent, which led to his defeat.

“He (Kantilal) had got his niece to stand against me. You call me a rebel? Rebellion runs in the Bhuria family. What high ground will they take ? Kantilal himself went Independent in 2003 because of which the Congress lost. I oppose Bhuria, not the Congress party,” Meda told The Indian Express.

Medha fought the Jhabua seat in 2018 as an Independent. The BJP’s G S Damor trounced Vikrant by 10,437 votes. Meda got 35,943 votes, damaging Vikrant’s prospects.

Shanti Damor (65), said that the local school was around 6 kms away, there were no Anganwadi centres near her home and the lack of water destroyed her corn. (Express Photo)

In 2019, Damor vacated the seat after he got elected to the Lok Sabha from the Ratlam seat, defeating Kantilal, who then went on to wrest the Jhabua seat from the BJP with Meda’s backing after ex-chief minister Kamal Nath placated him.

Meda was elevated to the post of the state Congress general secretary early this year, and was expecting a ticket. When he was denied it, his supporters burnt the effigies of Bhurias.

On Meda’s rebellion, Vikrant told The Indian Express, “It would have been better if he had stayed with us.”

Vikrant has spent the last few years criss-crossing MP as the state Youth Congress chief. He has now also formed his own team comprising young activists. “For the last three years I have been touring the state and the tribal areas. I also took up their issues during the Jan Akrosh rallies and concentrated on youth issues,” he said.

To counter Meda’s rebellion, the Congress has been trying to wean away his core supporters. Vinay Bhabore, the local Congress councillor, said, “We have managed to get some block presidents, panchayat level leaders from his camp by promising them plum postings and giving them respect, that should blunt his support.”

Development works being rushed at the last minute in Jhabua (Express Photo)

A former Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) district president, Bhanu is close to Damor and senior party leaders such as Kailash Vijayvargiya and Prabhat Jha.

Bhanu conceded that the party rebels might damage his prospects. He told The Indian Express: “I will win against Vikrant Bhuria. He lost the last election. Even in this election, he is facing rebellion. It can damage me too. We don’t know, we have to wait and watch.”

MP has one of the largest tribal populations in the country, having 46 tribes recognised as STs, of which three fall under the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG). Out of its 52 districts, the state has six “fully tribal” districts, while another 15 are classified “partially tribal”.

Ever since the BJP toppled the Kamal Nath government to return to power in the state in early 2020, it has been making attempts to woo the tribal community, which makes up 21% of the population. The outreach was necessitated by the party’s poor performance in the tribal seats. In the 2018 polls, the BJP could win only 16 of the 47 ST-reserved seats as compared to the Congress’s 30 – a reversal of the 2013 results, when the BJP had won 31 ST seats as against the Congress’s 15.

The BJP has been trying to win back tribal support base from the Congress through its various development programmes, racing to provide water and electricity to tribal households in different parts of the state. The party has also been celebrating tribal icons with Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking the lead in celebrating the 500th birth anniversary of tribal queen Rani Durgavati on October 5.

The Congress is also stepping up to retain its tribal support base. The party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, during her tour to Mandla on October 12, promised that the party will implement provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in certain tribal belts.

On the ground, the pace of development in tribal areas seems to be moving at a snail’s pace. Electric poles have been erected but the wires are missing. New water pipes lay on the ground in every village, waiting for installation.

Nev Singh Damor, a farmer in Charolipada village in Jhabua, was upset as he was not able to charge his phone for two days. “We can’t even charge our mobile phones. We don’t know which party to vote for. It is so difficult,” he said.

Another villager, Shanti Damor, 65, said the local school is located about 6 kms away and that there is not any Anganwadi centres near her home. “The water supply is so irregular that our crops were destroyed,” she said.

In Pipaliya village, two brothers, Dinesh and Damu, are returning home with their ox. They say they are unsure about the candidates. “There is so much confusion. Till last day we can’t say what will happen,” Dinesh said.