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Journalism of Courage
At a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol district on Tuesday, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of the term ‘Vanvasi’ to refer to the tribal community.
While reiterating the Congress’s demand for a nationwide caste census, Rahul said “an X-ray” of the country was needed to reveal the true conditions of OBCs, Dalit and tribals. He also questioned Modi’s earlier use of the term ‘Vanvasi’ instead of ‘Adivasi’, claiming he had forced the PM to use the latter instead.
“There is a difference between the words Adivasi and Vanvasi. Adivasi means those who come to Hindustan first and who are owners of this land while Vanvasis are those living in the forest,” Rahul said at the rally in Shahdol, where Scheduled Tribes account for nearly half the population, as per the 2011 Census. “Now, listen to Narendra Modi ji’s speech – he no longer says Vanvasi, he says Adivasi. Adivasi is the word that comes out of the mouth, but Vanvasi is in the heart,” he added.
In August this year, while visiting his constituency of Wayanad, Rahul had said there was a “perverted logic” behind the BJP’s use of ‘vanvasi’. “We say ‘adivasi’, the other side says ‘vanvasi’. There is a perverted logic behind the word ‘vanvasi’. It denies that you are the original owners of India and it restricts you to the jungle. The idea behind ‘vanvasi’ is that you belong to the jungle and you should never leave the jungle. This is not acceptable to us and we don’t accept this word. This is a distortion of your history and your tradition. It is an attack on your relationship with this country,’’ he said.
‘Adivasi’, however, referred to the original owners of the land, “who should be given rights over land, over forests and should be allowed an imagination to do whatever they want,” he said.
The origins of Adivasi and Vanvasi
The Constitution of India uses the term Scheduled Tribes or “Anusuchit Janjati” to describe tribes. Many tribal people choose to refer to themselves as ‘Adivasi’, which means ‘first inhabitants’. It is used in public discourse, in documents, text books and in media.
‘Vanvasi’, which means forest dwellers, is a term used by the BJP’s ideological parent RSS, which works extensively in tribal areas, and claims “to protect them from the clutches of Christian Missionaries”. With the marginalised tribal community traditionally treated as a unit outside the main caste structure, the term ‘Vanvasi’ was used to convey their distinct identity.
Alarmed by the changing culture of the tribal communities and their distancing from the Hindu religion, Ramakant Keshav Deshpande, in consultation with M S Golwalkar, the second Sarsanghchalak, had set up the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in 1952. Although the primary focus was on ‘Hinduisation’ of the tribals – which the Sangh said was necessary for national integration – and protecting their identity and culture, the Sangh’s activities among the community have always helped the BJP secure electoral gains.
“We call them Vanvasis. We do not call them Adivasis because Adivasi means original inhabitants or aboriginals, which implies all others are from outside. But the Sangh believes that we all are original inhabitants of this continent,” RSS leader Ram Madhav earlier told The Indian Express.
