On the evening of November 11, 2013 , when reports of heavy polling in tribal predominated Bastar region came in, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader looking after election management asserted publicly that it would go in their favour. But he was sceptical; cross-checking later whether his observation was correct.
It did not take long, however, for BJP leaders to realise that they had been wiped out in the first phase of polling in the November 2013 state election. The entire Bastar region that had 12 Assembly constituencies went to the polls in the first phase.
While inputs of the tribal pocket slipping out of the BJP's grasp baffled the organisation, it immediately swung into action. A confidential meeting of the BJP and its affiliated wings reportedly chaired by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders was held to draw the strategy for damage control in the second phase of polls on November 19.
The damage containment exercise worked and the BJP managed to compensate itself electorally in non-tribal pockets - pulling off numbers needed to retain the government. But the episode made the party introspect about its performance in the tribal pocket. Of the 26 seats in Bastar and Sarguja (another tribal area), the party could get only 11 seats, while in 2008 it had won 20.
Although state BJP leaders hate to discuss the tribal leadership issue, it has been one of the major factors that cast a shadow on the election. The biggest blunder the party was seen to have committed was projecting a leader from the tribal belt who did not strike a chord with voters.
Just before the state polls, the BJP inducted the Bastar maharaja and a young member of the royal family, Kamalchandra Bhanjdeo, in the party fold. The managers thought Kamalchandra would have the same charismatic appeal as his grandfather Praveenchandra Bhanjdeo, who was regarded as a father figure by tribal people in Bastar.
"The BJP's decision of inducting Kamalchandra Bhanjdeo was the biggest strategic blunder committed ahead of the elections," political analyst Sushil Trivedi observed. Unlike Praveenchandra, Kamalchandra did not connect with the people, he said, adding that the party's projecting him as Bastar's face failed to yield positive results.
The BJP has a serious tribal leadership deficit in Bastar in particular, and the state in general. After the death of Baliram Kashyap, there has been no strong tribal leader left in the party to represent Bastar. The second generation leadership was given ministerial berths but failed to emerge as tribal leaders with a broad base.
With 32 per cent population in the state, the tribal people cannot be ignored politically. The issue of tribal leadership and the lack thereof had been simmering within the party but the organisation played it down. In fact, those raising the issue were sidelined.
Nandkumar Sai, former leader of opposition and member of Parliament from Sarguja, had been a staunch supporter of the emergence of a tribal leadership. "It (Chhattisgarh) is a backward state, so I suggested the state's leadership vest with a tribal person," Sai had said.
Before the creation of the state, tribal candidates had 25 per cent seats reserved in the state assembly of Madhya Pradesh. After the division in 2000, the density of tribal population in Chhattisgarh was higher, and the number of seats reserved rose to about 40 per cent. The 2008 delimitation, however, reduced the number of such seats from 35 to 29. In addition, there are influential tribal individuals and a formidable tribal presence in areas beyond the reserved constituencies.
"Tribal voters were disappointed with the government as it failed to deliver to the people," said Deepak Baij, the Congress's newly elected young legislator from Bastar. The BJP, too, appears to have realised that it had failed to deliver. Soon after taking over as chief minister for a third term, Raman Singh announced a slew of sops that would have a direct economic impact on areas with a significant tribal population.
The government began acting on the decision to procure non-nationalised minor forest produce. That brought Rs 750 crore to the tribal pockets of the state. The state government's decision benefited 1.4 million tribal people.
The Chhattisgarh government also started the process to convert 400 forest villages across the state into revenue villages. The move is likely to help in creation of better infrastructure across tribal regions.
The BJP had learnt the lesson and was trying to plug loopholes, Trivedi said. "There was a lot of introspection after the election results and the party started rectifying its faults," BJP Vice-President and spokesperson Sacchidanand Upasne said.
In the Assembly elections, local issues had dominated while resentment against certain individuals had spilled out in the open, he said, adding that it would not be the case in the Lok Sabha elections. The entire remedial exercise seems to have been planned bearing the Lok Sabha polls in mind. The BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would hope the party's showing in the four Lok Sabha seats of Chhattisgarh turns out better than the recent state Assembly polls.
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