WOOING THE TRIBALS

In recent months, a series of developments in Madhya Pradesh suggest that a new demographic—tribal voters—has risen to the top of the BJP’s ‘to woo’ list. In March, the state government invited President Ram Nath Kovind to participate in a janjatiya sammelan (tribal convention) at Damoh in northeastern MP; on September 18, Union home minister Amit Shah travelled to Jabalpur to attend a function marking the 164th anniversary of the martyrdom of tribal heroes Shankar Shah and his son Raghunath in the 1857 uprising. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also been regularly touring tribal-dominated districts on the state’s eastern and western flanks, frequently announcing new schemes for these communities.