Vying for the tribal vote in Rajasthan amid a changing idea of tribal identity

Tribal youth in Rajasthan seek to move out of forests while preserving their identity; parties promise jobs, urbanisation. BAP hopes to capitalise on tribal identity politics, but faces competition from BTP. Tribal youth in Rajasthan seek to move out of forests while preserving their identity. Parties promise jobs, urbanisation; BAP and BTP compete to capitalise on tribal identity politics. Kishanlal Bhil and Ramila's stories reflect struggle to gain access to education & jobs, while preserving their Adivasi culture.

Like all the other residents of Kharni Tokri, a small village deep inside the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Kishanlal Bhil has lived in the forest all his life. But unlike the others, he is one of just two people in the village who have been to college, the other being his elder brother, Dalpat Bhil, who is camped outside the village to prepare for his B.Ed exams.

“All we have known is the forest. But we’re sick of living inside it. Don’t get me wrong, the forest is important to who we are and we are proud of being Adivasi. But how much longer will we stay put in the jungle as our fellow Adivasis in other parts pass us by?” the 21-year-old asks.

Tribal identity in Rajasthan is increasingly detaching itself from the last decade’s focus on forest rights. Instead, both the Congress and the BJP are hoping to court the State’s tribal youth with promises of localised government job recruitment and urbanisation as Rajasthan heads to the polls this Saturday.

But mainstreaming is just one aspect of the changing tribal identity in the State; youth are also keen to ensure that they do not lose their Adivasi culture or the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution in the process. The Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP), a new entrant to the State’s political arena, is hoping to capitalise on this aspect, to which it says neither the Congress nor the BJP are giving attention.

According to the 2011 census, Scheduled Tribes make up 13.48% of Rajasthan’s population; 25 Assembly constituencies, where tribals comprise over half the population, have been reserved for them.

Standing by the small stream that passes by Kharni Tokri, with a faint view of the Kumbhalgarh Fort in the background, Mr. Kishanlal Bhil lists out the villagers’ concerns: they keep losing cattle and crop to the wildlife regularly; the terrain is too dangerous to keep travelling in and out; and the rains box them inside the forest for months every year. The village has no power lines and most residents have not seen anything but the forest all their lives. “We know schools and hospitals will not come into the forest, and so we need to move out,” he says.

The village — with a population of about 60 to 70 people, most between the ages of 20 and 30 years — relies on farming for its own needs, in a testament to the kind of tribal politics that dominated the area a decade ago. “In 2009, we were given a Forest Rights Act patta to farm the land in the sanctuary, but only for our own needs. We are not allowed to sell the crop anywhere outside,” says 57-year-old Dudaram Bhil as he shows off the document.