Interview/ Rajkumar Roat, BAP founding member and MP
RAJKUMAR ROAT MADE many a head turn when he arrived for the inaugural session of the Lok Sabha on a camel. “I wanted to convey that in tribal culture, animals have a very important place,” says the first-time MP from Banswara. Roat, 32, grew up in the Sansarpur village of Dungarpur district in Rajasthan. THE WEEK caught up with him at his village home perched atop a hillock. Excerpts from an interview:
Q/ How did your party achieve electoral success so quickly?
A/ We took up the real issues of the people. Funds for schemes for tribals are lost to corruption. Officials have snatched away land belonging to the tribals through illegal means. This is a tribal majority area. Reservation is provided on the basis of constitutional provisions. But the notifications are such that 10 per cent people have benefited from 50 per cent reservation. The Congress and the BJP have only provided us with small schemes for foodgrains or houses or toilets or pension. The people have expressed their anger.
Q/ Hinduisation of the tribal identity has been talked about.
A/ The tribals have their own religious system and rituals. The tribal devi and devta are distinct from Hindu devi and devta. There are tribals who follow the Hindu ways. But in the past ten years, fanaticism has grown, politics is being done in the name of Hindu religion, and the people are being brainwashed and made to fight other communities. Taking this into consideration, we tell the tribals that Adivasis are not Hindu or Christian or Jain or Buddhist. They have their own identity, their own religion. This irks the national parties and they level various allegations against us.
Q/ The RSS has been running schools in this area.
A/ Christian missionaries have been working here and the RSS also runs schools here. In the RSS schools, extreme Hindu views are being inculcated in the children, and anti-Muslim and anti-Christian ideas are taught. May be not today but 20 years from now, it will result in a Manipur-like situation. They are all Adivasis, but one has accepted Christian faith and the other Hindu religion. The divide will get wider, and the situation in Manipur could be replicated and Adivasi will kill Adivasi in the name of religion.
Q/ On the issue of religion, the Rajasthan education minister said your DNA should be checked.
A/ It is our misfortune that we have an education minister of this kind. His statement exposes his mindset, that he wanted to get the DNA of Adivasis checked to find out who their forebears are. Now, he has apologised in the assembly and said he himself was an Adivasi.