Govts change, but our hardships still remain, say Nandurbar tribals

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, like a majority of Maharashtra, the tribal dominated Nandurbar district, represented by a Congress MP since 1967 and one of the

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, like a majority of Maharashtra, the tribal dominated Nandurbar district, represented by a Congress MP since 1967 and one of the most backward districts in the state, went saffron.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) retained this constituency in the 2019 polls in May, indicating there has been a clear breach in the former Congress bastion and its tribal vote bank. But beyond this transfer of power, in several tribal-dominated villages here, people complained their lives had not really changed for the better in the past five years.

“Our lives and hardships are the same under this government or the previous one. We are still struggling to find work; the drought last year and floods this year made our daily strife worse. I get paid ₹100 as wage for a day when I find work. But it has been tough to find work as farmers themselves have not been able to make ends meets,” said Ranjana Sonawane, a daily wage labourer from Tembhli village. Nine years ago, Sonawane made headlines when she was selected as the first person in the country to get the Aadhaar card from the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Neither her shot with fame then nor the past five years of the BJP government (her Assembly constituency also had a BJP MLA) has made any difference to her life, she complained.

Sonawane and her husband both are daily wage labourers and her son Unmesh is studying in first year of junior college in Shahada. He may be forced to drop out next year.

“This year, we have scraped through, but next year I am not sure he can continue his studies. We have so many youngsters who have passed Class 10, 12, but are back to working in sugar factories or looking for jobs as daily labourers,” said Sonawane.

More than half of the village of around 1500 persons, like many other adjoining villages, migrate to Junagadh district of Gujarat to work in cotton farms for three to four months every year. In Junagadh, they get paid ₹300 daily to work on farms. This migration hasn’t stopped for decades as the successive governments have failed to create job opportunities in these regions.

What this village and several others in the district, however, agree is that the BJP government has provided grants for building homes and toilets in the past five years.

In Tembhli village even this carried no currency.

“You should try and stay in these houses or use the toilets. We have 85 such beneficiaries, nobody uses them,” said Kailash Marathe.

But in neighbouring villages like Asus or Hodgujari, also completely tribal, villagers disagree.

“Yes, many of us have got this grant for houses and several in our villages have built them too. But more EGS, Khavti loans (loans for marginal farmers), loans for buying pair of bulls, all of which we used to get earlier, has been stopped by this government. The work situation in our villages is the same as ever,’’ said Devram Thakre from Asus village also in Shahada. Thakre also complained of educated, unemployed youngsters in their village.

In towns or taluka headquarters like Shahada, Nandurbar, there is a distinct different demographic, more urbanised, where one hears voices favouring the ruling BJP. “There is no alternative to the BJP or Prime Minister Modi. In Nandurbar, BJP candidate Dr Gavit will win hands down,” said Arun, a receptionist at a local hotel. “There is also a tribal versus non-tribal sentiment in Nandurbar district and this gets played out in the elections, along with the urban-rural divide. In the past election, out of six Assembly constituencies, two had gone to the BJP and four were with the Congress. This time, the contest is tougher given the defections from Congress,” said a senior journalist based in Nasik.

All six Assembly seats in Nandurbar are reserved for tribals. The BJP, ahead of the 2014 polls, had poached Dr Vijaykumar Gavit, a former NCP minister, who is now a party MLA from Nandurbar Assembly seat.

His daughter, Heena, is the sitting BJP MP from the constituency. Ahead of these elections, the BJP has given ticket to former Congress’ nine-term MP Manikrao Gavit’s son Bharat from Nawapur constituency and had inducted sitting Congress MLA Kashiram Pawara as candidate from Shirpur constituency.