New Delhi: Former Union minister and veteran tribal leader Arvind Netam has accused both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of failing the Adivasis of Chhattisgarh, which, he said, “forced” him to quit the former and form his new political outfit, the Hamar Raj Party.Netam, who heads the Sarva Adivasi Samaj, an umbrella organisation of tribal groups in the state, announced in September that the body had registered a political party under the name of Hamar Raj Party. Illustration: Pariplab ChakrabortyWith tribal communities constituting about 30% of Chhattisgarh’s population, Netam’s party could spring a surprise in a state that has traditionally seen straight battles between the Congress and the BJP.Speaking to The Wire, Netam said that he resigned from the Congress as it was no longer the party it was under Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.“Sarva Adivasi Samaj has been raising issues of the Adivasis for over two decades with different governments, whether it is the Congress government or the BJP government. But you will be surprised that under the BJP government that ruled the state for 15 years and then the Congress government (which is in power now), neither paid any heed to our demands. In fact, they did not even bother calling us for a discussion even once. After a lot of frustration, we decided that if there is no one to listen to us, then where should one go in a democracy? These parties are only interested in garnering votes. We were forced to form the party.”“We never wanted Sarva Adivasi Samaj to be a part of electoral democracy, but what can be done? Both the BJP and the Congress are the same, so where will Adivasi samaj go?”Netam served as the Union minister of state for education and social welfare in the Indira Gandhi government and as the Union minister of state for agriculture under P.V. Narasimha Rao.The veteran Congress leader, however, has had several run-ins with the party. In 1997, he joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) after he was denied a ticket in the 1996 Lok Sabha election but returned to the Congress in 1998.In 2012, he was suspended from the Congress after he supported P.A. Sangma’s presidential candidature. He rejoined the Congress in 2018 before that year’s Chhattisgarh assembly elections.Netam said that his Hamar Raj party will contest about 50 of the 90 seats in the elections next month, mostly on the reserved seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and highlight issues of jal, jungle, zameen (water, forest and land).“Our main issue is ‘jal, jangal, zameen‘. The Union government is making changes in the forest laws. We fought the British too on the basis of jal, jangal, zameen, didn’t we? Now people don’t even know anything about tribal areas. The state forest minister has still not visited Bastar. Apart from for a few private programmes, neither has the home minister nor education minister,” he said.In an interview with The Wire this month, deputy chief minister T.S. Singh Deo said that the Congress government has focused on tribal welfare through education infrastructure, supporting cultural activities through government through cash being provided for the upkeep of centres of religious sentiments, and giving stipend to those who look after these places of worship and formulating ruled under the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act. Netam also lashed out at the Congress government’s claims that by implementing the extension of PESA Rules 2022 in the state last year, it had empowered gram sabhas.“PESA was made by us in 1996. We knew that after 1991’s liberalisation reforms, the tribal areas would be vulnerable and governments would loot these areas. The objective of PESA was to ensure that gram sabhas should be consulted on all issues relating to jal, jangal, zameen. Gram sabhas need security and protection. But gram sabhas have been reduced to advisory roles. The Congress has finished the powers of the gram sabha. Rahul Gandhi came here but did he speak about PESA? They (Congress) themselves are clearing the roads in Adivasi areas for corporate houses. Have any of these Congress ministers even read the PESA law?”“We are not against industrialisation or industries. Yes, development should take place but we need to talk about zilla autonomy and empowering them.”Netam has also accused the Congress government of hypocrisy by raising allegations of crony capitalism against Gautam Adani and the Narendra Modi government while doing business with his company in Congress-ruled states.“The Bhupesh Baghel government is doing business worth 20,000 crore with Adani. Who will answer that? In Rajasthan, which is also under Congress, they are also doing business with Adani,” he said.For the first time, residents of more than 120 villages in Bastar will vote in their own settlements in the assembly polls – which will be held in two phases on November 7 and 17. Polling stations will be set up in these erstwhile Maoist strongholds. The Congress and the BJP are each claiming credit for allegedly reducing Maoist violence in the state.Netam rejected the claims. “Irrespective of whether elections are taking place in 120 villages or not, the fact is that Naxals are still here, aren’t they? Over one lakh members of paramilitary forces are already in the state and now you are bringing in more. We have been asking for 15 years to call the Sarva Adivasi Samaj for talks but the governments have no humdardi (sympathy). They don’t go deep into these tribal areas and don’t listen to the people. This is a socio-economic problem – wherever there is poverty and hunger, Naxals will be born there. Sociologists and journalists have been writing about this for years. So where is the planning to deal with this?” he said.
