Bhil Pradesh
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A backgrounder
As in 2024
Hamza Khan, July 19, 2024: The Indian Express
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’. “After the mega rally, a delegation will meet the President and the Prime Minister with the proposal,” the MP said on Tuesday (July 18).
Babulal Kharadi, the minister for Tribal Area Development in the state’s BJP-led government, responded in a statement: “In a democracy, there is freedom of expression. Every person has a right to demand, and there should be smaller states as it is good for development. However, creating a state on the basis of caste is not apt. If it is Adivasis today, tomorrow you will have other communities demanding the same on the basis of their caste, which is not good for the society and the country, while we talk of social harmony.”
The idea of a tribal state, comprising parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, has been discussed earlier, too. What is the basis of that demand and why has it been raised again? We explain.
What is ‘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. BTP Rajasthan president Dr Velaram Ghogra, now also the BTP national president, earlier told The Indian Express that 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.”
“Post-Independence, the demand for Bhil Pradesh was raised repeatedly,” Ghogra said. Over the decades, the demand was raised and amplified by, among others, Somjibhai Damor, the multi-term Congress MP from Dahod; former Ratlam MP Dileep Singh Bhuria, also of the Congress; and the former CPI member of the Rajasthan Assembly, Meghraj Tawar.
But why do the tribals want a separate state?
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’. “After the mega rally, a delegation will meet the President and the Prime Minister with the proposal,” the MP said on Tuesday (July 18).
Babulal Kharadi, the minister for Tribal Area Development in the state’s BJP-led government, responded in a statement: “In a democracy, there is freedom of expression. Every person has a right to demand, and there should be smaller states as it is good for development. However, creating a state on the basis of caste is not apt. If it is Adivasis today, tomorrow you will have other communities demanding the same on the basis of their caste, which is not good for the society and the country, while we talk of social harmony.”
The idea of a tribal state, comprising parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, has been discussed earlier, too. What is the basis of that demand and why has it been raised again? We explain.
What is ‘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. BTP Rajasthan president Dr Velaram Ghogra, now also the BTP national president, earlier told The Indian Express that 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.”
“Post-Independence, the demand for Bhil Pradesh was raised repeatedly,” Ghogra said. Over the decades, the demand was raised and amplified by, among others, Somjibhai Damor, the multi-term Congress MP from Dahod; former Ratlam MP Dileep Singh Bhuria, also of the Congress; and the former CPI member of the Rajasthan Assembly, Meghraj Tawar.
But why do the tribals want a separate state?
Ghogra said, “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.
He cited the example of The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, a law meant to decentralise governance and empower gram sabhas in tribal areas. “The law was enacted in 1996. The Rajasthan government adopted the law in 1999, and came out with its Rules in 2011. But even in my village Paldeval in Dungarpur, 25 years on, people don’t even know about the law. Even the MLAs and ministers of the BJP and Congress don’t have proper knowledge about the law.”
Many tribal parties in the region have emerged over the years on the planks of empowering their community. Some have also been vocally opposed to the BJP and the Congress, claiming the two national parties have been unable to fulfill the Bhils’ demands and merely used them for political gains.
For example, while rivals nationally, In the Rajasthan Zila Parishad elections in December 2020, the Dungarpur ZP members of the then ruling Congress and Opposition BJP joined forces to defeat a Zila Pramukh candidate supported by the BTP. Independents backed by the BTP won 13 out of the 27 seats in the Dungarpur Zila Parishad, while the BJP and Congress had won 8 and 6 seats respectively.
What is the status of the demand now?
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.
BAP leaders have also asserted a distinct tribal culture in opposition to Hinduism and the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R S S). Roat earlier told The Indian Express in an interview, “We have our own customary laws. Even the Supreme Court has said in some of its judgments that Adivasis are not Hindus. Hum dharmapurvi log hain (We came before religion).”
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), PTI reported. 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.
See also
Bhil Pradesh
