Dantewada: As National Highway 30 winds upwards from the Keshkal ghats in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, several makeshift armed checkpoints pop up on either side of the road. Sweating profusely, the troops manning these booths are a mixture of local and national forces. They check every vehicle – a move symbolising the approaching general assembly elections in six districts of the state, for one of its 11 seats.
Dotting the mostly green and brown landscape are exponentially increasing orange flags, banners, and even sky balloons, celebrating Ram Navami. Even as elections approach, the tribal-dominated Bastar has taken a saffron turn, celebrating a festival with little to no history in the region.
Ram Navami, celebrated as the birth of Rama, was not always observed so boisterously in Bastar. In 2022, the Sukma chapter of Sarva Adiwasi Samaj, an umbrella body of tribals in the region, had written to the then Congress government rejecting an invitation to participate in Ram bhajan singing competitions, saying that tribal culture is different. However, in 2023, right-wing groups took out rallies on Ram Navami well into the night in several towns as well as all six district headquarters.
According to a senior tribal activist from the region, the festival has turned into a display of power rather than a celebration. “The right wing is ensuring that they’re heard loud and clear: they’re here and they have the support of the people,” the activist said.
In Jagdalpur, as one enters the city, giant hoardings of Ram Navami greet visitors amid a sea of orange flags. Further inside the city, there are giant statues of various Gods and Goddesses, with one effigy of Ram and Sita placed right outside the house of Congress candidate Kawasi Lakhma. In Dantewada, banners alternating between “Jai Shri Ram” and claims of a Hindvi Samrajya (Hindu nation) are scattered across the city, while a giant orange sky-balloon hovers over the bus stand bearing the words “Jai Shri Ram.” Similar scenes are visible across all six districts of the region as they prepare for the upcoming election.
The BJP seems to be utilising the saffron spread, justifying the choice of fielding a new candidate on a seat they’ve lost only once (in 2019) since 1998. Mahesh Kashyap (49) is a tribal leader with close ties to the RSS and its subsidiaries. While he conducted his campaign on a bike tour, the BJP left no stone unturned to show trust in him.
When Kashyap submitted his nominations, not only the BJP state president Kiran Singh Deo but even the deputy chief minister Arun Sao and chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai spoke at a public rally.
Kashyap, who has previously been involved in several ‘Ghar Wapsi’ campaigns in Kondagaon and Narayanpur, has taken a clear stand on his promises for the region. “Only the BJP can give a common party worker a position like this. I want to make Bastar Congress-free to ensure well-rounded development here. PM Modi’s guarantees will turn the tide here,” he said.
Interestingly, the Bastar region, especially Narayanpur, saw a spate of violence against tribal Christians before the 2023 assembly elections.
In Bastar, the Congress had managed to sweep the assembly elections in 2018, winning the Bastar seat for the first time since 1998 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, in the 2023 assembly elections, the Congress seems to have lost its edge in Bastar. The party has, thus, fielded Kawasi Lakhma, the sitting MLA from Sukma’s Konta.
Lakhma, who was a cabinet minister in the previous Congress government, is a well-known face in Bastar. He is fighting the elections on the planks of connectivity and safety. “In the past 15 years, the BJP has just perpetuated a reign of terror. There is still no train connectivity between the six districts of the region, or even train connectivity of this region with the rest of the country. They are only hell-bent on killing tribals, even if they have just stepped out of their houses to go to their relatives’ houses,” Lakhma said while talking to the press.
Meanwhile, the central BJP leadership seems to be pushing back against Maoists as an agenda. Since the BJP government’s election in December, police claim to have killed over 80 alleged Maoists, including several divisional and subdivisional leaders of the outlawed People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA). However, questions have been raised by civil society and lawyers about the veracity of these claims.
Even as both major political parties promise development, once again, to a region still struggling for basic necessities and caught in conflict, the voting might not depend on the promises alone.
In Bastar, it seems that the BJP has managed to make deep cultural inroads, which might affect the voting, scheduled for all six districts on April 19.
