MARGAO
The split within the Scheduled Tribes (ST) community — long considered a core voter base of the ruling BJP in Goa — appears wide open.
The public spat between senior tribal leaders, Minister Ramesh Tawadkar and former Minister Govind Gaude, has again prompted the BJP leadership to intervene in a bid to broker a truce between the two warring leaders.
With STs comprising around 10 per cent of the State’s population, and four Assembly seats to be reserved for the community under the amended law, the BJP will be in no mood to allow this internal conflict to escalate, especially with elections round the corner.
While party strategists may fear that the continued infighting could split the tribal vote — jeopardising their electoral prospects in key constituencies, especially in South Goa district — the question before the opposition parties, especially the main opposition party, is simple: Does the Congress have a strategy to capitalise on the Tawadkar-Gaude feud and the growing discontent within the ST community to turn the tide in its favour?
Political observers note that, unlike the BJP — which has a strong presence of ST leaders across the tribal-dominated talukas of Canacona, Quepem, Sanguem, Dharbandora, and Ponda — the Congress lacks a tribal leadership base in these regions.
Pose this question to Congress leaders, and one can hear voices blaming successive leaderships for their failure to groom ST leaders in the hinterland and to build sustained connections with tribal communities. “There’s no doubt that STs from the Hindu community have traditionally aligned first with the MGP and later with the BJP,” a senior Congress leader remarked. “The UTAA agitation further distanced the community from the party, especially after the perception gained ground that the Congress government (2007-2012) had failed to adequately address tribal concerns,” he said.
He added, “It’s high time the party leadership chalks out a concrete action plan to reconnect with ST communities. A significant section of tribal voters did rally behind Congress candidate Altone D’Costa in Quepem during the 2022 elections to defeat the BJP. We must now build on that momentum through sustained grassroots campaigns in tribal-dominated areas.”
Indeed, barring Quepem, most of the Assembly constituencies with a sizeable ST population are currently held by the BJP.
Other opposition parties too seem on the job to woo the ST community. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), currently in expansion mode, has begun efforts to court the ST community by inducting tribal youth into its ranks and pushing deeper into the state’s hinterlands.
Amongst the regional outfits, sources say the Revolutionary Goans Party has made a sizeable presence amongst the ST electorate. Goa Forward Party’s recent overtures to the community indicate that the regional party too has set its eyes on the ST vote.
Yet the key question remains: Are any of the opposition parties truly in a position to make significant inroads among the Scheduled Tribes?
