Will Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s theatrics save BJP the blushes in MP?

Money is reportedly pouring in to mount a legal defence for Pravesh Shukla (30), the BJP worker-cum-contractor, who was arrested by police in Sidhi after a video of him urinating on a 36-year-old tribal Dashmat Rawat went viral this week. The incident, however, is three-months old, confirmed villagers in Sidhi. Shukla is allegedly a representative of BJP's Sidhi MLA Kedarnath Shukla.

Hours after chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan released a video on Thursday in which he is seen washing the feet of Rawat, a daily wager in Shukla’s village, and having lunch with him, the Madhya Pradesh unit of All India ‘Baraham (Brahmin) Samaj’ announced the payment of Rs 51,000 to Shukla’s family and let it be known that it would approach the Jabalpur high court against the partial demolition of Shukla’s house.

While the immediate provocation for Shukla to urinate on Rawat is still not known, speculation is that Rawat had asked for arrear payment of his wages, which infuriated Shukla. Rawat, a daily wager, apparently worked at Shukla’s house whenever called and would often attend on the family.

Shukla’s family members have claimed that villagers who had recorded the act had first tried to blackmail Shukla and had threatened that the video would be released if they were not paid.

The consensus in MP is that the chief minister Chauhan overdid the damage control act. Rawat was picked up by the police in Sidhi, 600 kilometres from Bhopal, was tutored before producing him at the chief minister’s residence in the state capital after two days on Thursday. Rawat also appears to have acquired a fresh set of clothes on the way. The chief minister may also have managed to intimidate him by his unusual warmth. He led Rawat by his hand, made him sit on a plush sofa before washing his feet and ask for his forgiveness. He also spoke to Rawat’s wife and offered help to build a house and get him a job. A cowering and submissive Rawat said he felt nice after meeting the CM.

Congress leader Kamal Nath ridiculed the drama and quipped that if the chief minister had indeed felt bad, he would not have enacted the drama before a camera crew. “CM Chouhan is under the impression that the tribal community will forget the insults after such theatrics. They will not and this gimmick will not work now," he said.

MP Youth Congress president and tribal leader Vikrant Bhuria, who went to meet the family, claimed, "If Congress leaders like Ajay Singh and Kamleshwar Patel didn't sit in protest at the victim's house, Police and the BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla would have taken entire family to Bhopal for the photo-op at the CM’s house”

While the damage-control act was designed to salvage BJP’s image and pacify tribals who may have felt insulted, the CM may have overdid the act. By directing the police to immediately arrest the accused under the National Security Act and demolish a part of his house with bulldozers, he alienated some of the upper caste supporters; and by declaring righteously that the accused has no caste or religion, he incensed tribal and civil rights activists.

The anxiety and the desperation of the BJP and the chief minister are not entirely misplaced. BJP has been working overtime to win back the support of the 22 per cent tribal voters in the state which drifted away from the party substantially in 2018.

The Chouhan government renamed railway stations, bus stands and colleges after tribal icons and freedom fighters. Statues of tribal icons were installed and November 15, birth anniversary of Adivasi freedom fighter Birsa Munda from Khunti (Ranchi in Jharkhand) was declared the International Tribal Day, to be celebrated as Tribal Pride Day and a holiday declared. After stalling the implementation for 18 years, the state government also introduced the rules of the PESA Act of 1996 which specify land and forest rights to tribals.

BJP had won 31 of the 47 ST reserved seats in 2008 and 2013 assembly elections but only 15 of those seats in 2018. BJP has held massive rallies addressed by PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in tribal areas and introduced home delivery of PDS ration in all the 89 tribal blocks.

But while the video of a BJP worker urinating on a tribal threatened to derail the party’s outreach to tribals and cause loss of goodwill, observers say it is too early to assess the damage the incident will cause the party.

In the last three years of BJP rule, Madhya Pradesh has recorded a sharp increase in atrocities against tribals, some of which hit the national headlines. A tribal was beaten to death in Neemuch in 2021. In Dewas' Nimawar, half decomposed bodies of five tribals including two children were recovered from a pit. Two tribals were lynched by alleged Bajrang Dal members in Seoni. The death of a tribal in police custody in Khargone, Khandwa and Indore also caused huge public uproar.

Rawat belongs to the Kol tribe, the largest and the most backward tribe in the Vidhya region. BJP has held two mega events in the last four months to woo the tribe and promised construction of Kol Garhi -- a sacred place of Kols.

Umesh Tiwari, a Sidhi-based social commentator, however, feels that the incident will damage the four-time BJP MLA of Sidhi more than the party. "Kols are indeed among the most backward and illiterate communities but they have religiously supported the BJP as they are the major beneficiaries of government schemes,” he said over phone.

"Chances are high that the news of the incident has not even travelled to most of them. Even if the news did travel, it may not impact their voting pattern. But, the incident may influence the voting pattern of other tribal groups like Gonds and the Bhils etc.,” he added.