Adivasi identity, defections and national issues resonate as Madhya Pradesh’s tribal belt gears up for Phase 1

Campaigning has reached its peak in Madhya Pradesh where six seats will go to the polls on April 19.

It is now less than a week before the first phase of Lok Sabha election and like the rest of the country, campaigning has reached its peak in Madhya Pradesh where six seats will go to the polls on April 19.

The six seats where voting will take place are Chhindwara, Mandla (ST), Balaghat and Jabalpur of Mahakoshal region, and Shahdol (ST) and Sidhi of Vindhya region. In 2019, the BJP had won five of them barring Chhindwara.

Top leaders of the two main parties in the State — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress — including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have campaigned here.

And while local issues of migration, employment and infrastructure were resonating on the ground earlier, national leaders have largely succeeded in making sure that the focus remains on subjects like the Ram Temple, abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, caste census and legal MSP for farmers. In his latest visit to Balaghat, Mr. Modi talked about everything from the freedom struggle to last G20 Summit in Delhi.

While each seat has its own caste equation that is going to play a crucial role in the polls, tribal voters are in a dominating position in all six constituencies with over 20% vote share in each of them, except Jabalpur, where it is about 15%.

So, the BJP and the Congress have constantly appealed to them accusing the other of insulting the community.

After incumbent Chhindwara MP Nakul Nath called Kamlesh Shah, then MLA from Chhindwara’s Amarwara, a gaddar (traitor) for moving from Congress to BJP, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was quick to link the remarks with the whole tribal community and sought an apology from the Lok Sabha member.