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20/07/24 10:41 AM IST

Bhil tribe have again demanded a separate ‘Bhil Pradesh’

In News
  • A large number of people from the Bhil tribe recently gathered at a rally in Rajasthan’s Mangarh Dham, where Banswara’s Member of Parliament Rajkumar Roat again raised the “long due” demand for an independent ‘Bhil state’.
Bhil Pradesh
  • The demand for a separate tribal state in western India was previously put forward by regional parties such as the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP).
  • The BTP was formed in 2017 in Gujarat, with this issue as a major agenda.
  • The Bhil community has been demanding that 49 districts be carved out of the four states to establish Bhil Pradesh. 
  • Bhil social reformer and spiritual leader Govind Guru first raised the demand for a separate state for tribals back in 1913.
  • This was after the Mangarh massacre, which took place six years before Jallianwalla Bagh and is sometimes referred to as the “Adivasi Jallianwala”.
  • It saw hundreds of Bhil tribals being killed by British forces on November 17, 1913, in the hills of Mangarh on the Rajasthan-Gujarat border.
  • However, BAP MP Roat says that “the sacrifice of the tribals in 1913 wasn’t just for Bhakti movement but for the demand of Bhil Pradesh.
Why separate state?
  • Earlier, the Dungarpur, Banswara, Udaipur region in Rajasthan and Gujarat, MP, etc. was part of a single entity.
  • But post-Independence, the tribal majority regions were divided by the political parties, so that the tribals don’t organise and unite.”
  • According to the 2011 census, tribals comprise almost 14% of Rajasthan’s population and are mainly concentrated in the Vagad region, comprising Pratapgarh, Banswara Dungarpur and parts of Udaipur districts.
  • According to Ghogra, several Union governments brought various “laws, benefits, schemes, and committee reports” on tribals over time, but went slow on their execution and implementation.
  • In 2023, the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) was formed a few months before the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, amid differences within BTP leaders.
  • Most state leaders and workers of the BTP joined the new organisation and it drew considerable support among voters.
  • Having a similar ideology as its parent BTP which had just two MLAs in Rajasthan, the BAP currently has three MLAs and one MP in the state — making it an important regional player – and indicating the growing consolidation of tribals in the region.
  • At the recent Mangarh Dham rally too, tribal activist Menka Damor said that tribals are not Hindus and asked the tribal women to not wear mangalsutra and apply sindoor (vermilion).
  • With the BAP’s rise, it remains to be seen how the demand for Bhil Pradesh plays out in the near future. tribal issues will likely be invoked in the state in the near future as well.
Source- Indian Express

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