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Polls apart: Tribals caught in time warp

DAHOD: A band of boys dancing through the narrow village lanes of Panduri are literally drumming up support for the local BJP candidate. Waving the party’s lotus symbol, beating on a drum and shouting “bhajup, bhajup (BJP, BJP)”, they are the candidate’s supporters.

Polls apart: Tribals caught in time warp

Boys hold cutouts of lotus, the BJP symbol, in Dahod’s Panduri village. Photo by writer



Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Dahod, December 11

A band of boys dancing through the narrow village lanes of Panduri are literally drumming up support for the local BJP candidate. Waving the party’s lotus symbol, beating on a drum and shouting “bhajup, bhajup (BJP, BJP)”, they are the candidate’s supporters.

Never mind that they are underage and can’t vote. Also, it hardly matters whether they make any impression at all. As the sound fades into the distance, the villagers, essentially tribals, get back to whatever they are doing.

One old man, Soma, a small-time vendor talks aloud to himself: “Our fate will never change no matter how many elections come and go.” His words elicit a response from his neighbour. A motorcyclist stops by, children start to gather and it is time for another session of complaints.

The contractor did a rush-job of making toilets which are non-functional and lying locked. There is not enough water, only three hand-pumps for 125 houses. The government has stopped providing kerosene and distributed gas cylinders in a few homes. The rest make do by collecting and burning firewood. There is no high school close by, well water to irrigate the fields and teachers who hardly take primary classes. “We have stopped giving any thought to elections. Our lives are caught in a time warp and there is no escaping this misery. We live like this and we will die like this,” says Nathu Parmar.

Of the six Assembly seats in the district, five are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) but it has made little difference to the lives of the tribals.

“The government stopped supplying kerosene but gave no cylinders. Now, we are almost glad they haven’t because the subsidy on cylinders does not come to bank accounts at all,” explains Sabu. She does all her cooking on firewood just like other women.

Though the fields seem an endless carpet of green, water for irrigation is the bane of the area. “Most fields have wells made during the Congress rule in the Centre under MNREGA and we pull out water through pumps to irrigate our fields. All that is also a closed chapter now. None of the houses have water supply,” rues Naval Singh Rathore of Bijagarh Kotphalia, adding the BJP has done nothing to alleviate their suffering, which is why they choose to support the Congress.

In Abhlod, as also in other villages, the young are moving out into cities to make ends meet. The old have been left behind to tend to the fields.

“Rising unemployment and lack of opportunities have resulted in large-scale migration. It is taking the young away from their homes and fields. We are a village of the old now,” explains Raman Dehada, the sarpanch. He adds the BJP rule has weaned away the youth from their villages and they are not coming back.

Lalu Bhai’s brothers went to cities to work as labour. “I’m here to check on my parents who live alone. We go to cities in search of jobs, live in the open and barely eke out an existence but it is still better than being in the village and earning nothing,” he says, adding only old parents are living in the villages. While life is getting tougher each day and water is getting scarcer for the tribals, their miseries are the only thing multiplying. Being reduced to labourers, they are fighting a losing battle against an identity crisis that is staring them in the face. Elections, for them, infuse little enthusiasm and no hope. They will come and go.

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