Mohan Bhagwat’s statement on tribals being ‘anti-national’: ‘Ghar wapasi’ and the false binary

Santosh K Kiro

Of the numerous tribal revolts across India, it is befitting to discuss a few that took place in Central India, mainly the Chotanagpur region, which has a high concentration of tribal population. It is here that both major tribal revolts during the British era took place. There has also been a significant number of “ghar wapasis” here in recent times.

In 1771, Adivasis in Jharkhand fought against the British using guerrilla warfare under the leadership of Baba Tilka Majhi. Thereafter, a series of battles took place, including the famous Kol Uprising of 1831-32. The revolts of Veer Budhu Bhagat and Telenga Kharia were dealt with an iron hand by the British. The main participants of the Kol revolts were the Mundas, the Oraons and the Kharias of Chotanagpur.

This writer is also linked to a tribe which had been designated as a criminal tribe in 1871. Telenga Kharia spearheaded a rebellion against the British from 1850 to 1860, in which my great-grandfather took part. The participants were hunted for a long time even after the rebellion was quelled. Many men and families left the region, including this writer’s grandfather who had to flee, leaving his family in order to save himself. He never came back. The real cause of concern, however, was that many families, like his, were forcefully scattered across different areas.

In 1871, the British came up with the Criminal Tribes Act, and the Kharia tribe was on the list with about 200 other tribes. These tribes have been called by various “names” for centuries by different groups. The British terming them “criminal’, or the present instance, where they are seen as potentially “anti-national”, is a part of this pattern.

The same concern is visible in the Constituent Assembly. Jaipal Singh, speaking on December 16, 1946, said: “I rise to speak on behalf of millions of unknown hordes — yet very important — of unrecognised warriors of freedom, the original people of India who have variously been known as backward tribes, primitive tribes, criminal tribes and everything else, Sir, I am proud to be a Jungli, that is the name by which we are known in my part of the country. As a Jungli, as an Adibasi, I am not expected to understand the legal intricacies of the Resolution. You cannot teach democracy to the tribal people; you have to learn democratic ways from them. They are the most democratic people on earth.”

“National” and “anti-national” are terms that are being used rather loosely nowadays. If someone is carrying a flag (of an affiliation), he or she is a “nationalist”, but a mother who raises her son to be healthy so that he can contribute to the good of the country is “just a mother”. If teachers lead their students to become good citizens, they are not considered to be “nationalists”.

Tribes have their own religion, and they even possess a distinctive philosophy, at par with anything in India or the West. They have been demanding, for decades, the recognition of their religious practice by the government and the society at large. They are demanding their rights in Indian democracy. The worldview that considers these communities — converted, re-converted or non-converted — as potentially “anti-national” is absurd.

The writer teaches Mass Communication at St Xavier’s College, Ranchi