UDAIPUR: Thousands of tribal people from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan gathered at Mangarh Dham in Banswara district on Thursday to demand the creation of a separate state to be called ‘Bhil Pradesh’.
The BJP govt in Rajasthan had made it clear just the day before that it does not support the creation of any such new state.
Addressing a mega cultural rally in the town that holds special spiritual significance for tribal people, the tribal leaders proposed merger of 49 districts from these states as well as Maharashtra for their desired new state. Security agencies in Rajasthan were on high alert for the rally, and internet services were shut down in the area as a precaution. Members of the tribal communities from four states had started arriving at Mangarh Dham early in the morning, and their vehicles were stopped 5 km before the rally site.
The tribal leaders speaking at the rally also demanded that the religion of the tribal people be recognised as one distinct from Hinduism and called upon the indigenous people to give up traditional Hindu practices such as fasting and married women wearing mangal sutra and applying vermilion.
Banswara MP Rajkumar Roat of Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) reminded the audience that the demand for Bhil Pradesh was a longstanding one and that his party had been steadfastly advocating for it. Roat had also raised slogans in support of Bhil Pradesh during his oath-taking ceremony as an MP in Lok Sabha.
Three BAP MLAs at rallyHe had arrived in parliament riding a camel to symbolise his demand for the new state for tribals.
“We are not Hindus,” said Maneka Damor, a founder-member of Adivasi Parivar Sanstha, an organisation of the indigenous people that operates across the four states. She urged tribal women to reject traditional Hindu practices and focus on education.
Accompanying Roat at the rally were three BAP MLAs—Jaikrishn Patel of Bagidora in Banswara, Umesh Meena of Aspur in Dungarpur, and Thavar Chand of Dhariyawad in Pratapgarh—and Adivasi Parivar founder Bhanwarlal Parmar. The tribal leaders said they now plan to send a delegation to President Droupadi Murmu and PM Narendra Modi with a charter of their demands.
Ever since it gained political strength in Rajasthan, BAP has been spearheading its campaign for a separate state,seeking to unify tribals from various districts of the four western states.
BJP MP alleges British, church influence in Bhil state demandBJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Udaipur, Manna Lal Rawat, on Thursday spoke out against the demand for a Bhil state, labelling it a “misguided movement” influenced by “British and Church ideologies”.
Addressing a press conference in Udaipur, Rawat criticised those who held a rally for the cause at Mangarh Dham in Banswara, accusing them of promoting bigotry and casteism by denying Adivasis’ Hindu identity.
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