Even as a flurry of incidents of atrocities including those of tribal people came to light during the past week, a Madhya Pradesh Congress delegation led by former chief minister Kamal Nath met Governor Mangubhai Patel on Monday, demanding his intervention in preventing such incidents.
Meanwhile two more videos—one of two tribal brothers from Dhar district being confined and beaten up with pipes in Indore and another of a dalit youth stripped and beaten up in Sagar—came to light during the weekend, sending the authorities into tizzy and attracting severe attack from opposition Congress.
Three accused were arrested in the Indore case, while police were still trying to identify the accused in the Sagar case as the date of the incident remained unknown.
The major incident during the past week was reported on July 4 when a video of a BJP member urinating on a tribal man in Sidhi district went viral across the country. This was followed by a video of a minority youth being beaten up and made to lick feet of the accused and another incident of a tribal family beaten up, their house torched and garland of shoes allegedly put on their neck – both in Gwalior district.
The Congress continues to attack the ruling BJP over the issue despite action by the government in almost all cases. The fact that names of members or supporters of the ruling party have come up as accused in some of the incidents, has given the opposition fuel during the election year.
On Monday, the Kamal Nath-led delegation submitted a memorandum to the governor, which mentioned the Sidhi incident as well the past incidents where a tribal youth was killed after he was tied to a pick-up truck and dragged in Neemuch district in August 2021 and the mass-murders of a young woman and four other members of her family - who were buried after being killed by accused in May 2021.
The memorandum said that these incidents were being mentioned as they were most inhuman and caused indignation across the world. It mentioned that over 30,000 incidents of atrocities against tribals had been registered during the (18 year) regime of BJP in the state and many more remained unreported.
The memorandum said that since the governor himself came from the tribal community, he would best understand the pain, deprivation and struggle of the tribals.
“Our pain increases when the atrocities against tribals are committed by leaders of the ruling party or under their protection. The attitude of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state could well be understood by the fact that the budget for tribal welfare got spent in government rallies of political nature. Tribal people lodge their complaints at the SC/ST police stations, but the government has failed to grant funds to these police stations. If any crime comes to the fore, the ruling party leaders get busy in covering them up. In this way, the government and the political machinery in Madhya Pradesh is creating such an atmosphere of hate and injustice, where the atrocities on tribal people is increasing by the day.”
The memorandum further said that being the constitutional head of the state, the governor was requested to use his powers and order the government to stop atrocities against tribals. Congress, being the main opposition party, is opposing the atrocities and also helping the victims from the tribal community as much as possible. “Your intervention is necessary because this is a matter of independence, security and honour of the tribal community; that of prestige of Madhya Pradesh and overall the protection of humanity.”
After coming out of the Raj Bhavan, Kamal Nath told media persons that the governor has been requested to come forward personally for protecting the interests of the tribal people. “Every day, new incidents of atrocities on tribals are coming to the fore. The incident of Sidhi has embarrassed the state in the entire country. The governor himself comes from the tribal community, so we have urged him to come forward to take steps to protect the tribal people,” Nath said.
The delegation included leader of opposition in the state assembly, Govind Singh and tribal leaders including former chief of Madhya Pradesh Congress, Kantilal Bhuria, former home minister Bala Bachchan, former minister Umang Singhar and others.