South Orissa Tribals Say It Is The Hand That Feeds Them

Rice at Rs 2 per kg and mid-day meal to school children might have cost the state exchequer over Rs 200 crore per annum, but it has earned the ruling Congress massive support among the tribals in southern Orissa where the party is poised to maintain its unblemished record of winning all the three seats at stake.

For the tribals in southern Orissa, who constitute the bulk of the electorate, things have not changed since Independence. Caught in a time warp, the forest dwellers are more concerned with the basics of subsistence. The government largesse has only reinforced their belief that the Congress partys symbol, the hand, is the hand that feeds them.

 

Who will give us food if we dont vote for the hand? is common refrain across the region. Not for them the subtle differences which distinguish political parties. In fact, most of them-cursed by illiteracy and poverty-are not even aware of the existence of other parties let alone the myriad scandals that haunt the Congress elsewhere.

In a scenario where the tribals are bound to the Congress in a patron-retainer relationship, other political parties can do little but throw in the towel even before the battle begins.

Says a Bharatiya Janata Party supporter in Nawarangpur: The support for the BJP is growing, but it is no position to pose a threat to the Congress here. The influence of the saffron brigade is only limited to urban areas, while in the outbacks of hilly terrain and forests where the tribals still live in a primitive condition, Congress is the only party and hand is the only symbol they know.

Admits Khagapati Pradhani, Congress candidate for the Nawarangpur (ST) seat, who is set to make electoral history (winning a seat consecutively for nine times from a single party) : The tribals are simple and innocent people. They are too concerned about getting two meals per day to bother about political intrigues or for that matter allegations of corruption slapped against Congress by the opposition. He points out that throughout his campaign in the constituency, none asked him questions about Bofors or the urea scam.

In Nawarangpur, as in the neighbouring reserved constituency of Koraput, where the former Union minister Giridhar Gomango is trying to retain the seat seventh time in a row, the tribals and scheduled castes form about 75 per cent of the electorate. The literacy rate among the tribals is 15 per cent, while over 80 per cent of them have been categorised as living below the poverty line.

Explaining the strong bond of the tribals with the Congress, Pradhani says that the freedom struggle endeared the party to the aborigines. Subsequently, pro-poor policies of the Indira Gandhi government like bank nationalisation, land reforms and the 20-point programme cemented the ties. Now, welfare measures like rice at Rs 2 per kg, mid-day meal scheme for the school children and free-kitchen for the poor, old and the infirm undertaken by the present Congress government has reinforced the relationship.

The cheap rice scheme was the brainchild of the Biju Patnaik government, but the Congress government that came to power in 1995 implemented it more vigorously, and extended its benefits to all the 143 tribal blocks in the state.

Similarly, in a bid to check the school dropout rate, 40,000 schools with a total strength of 41 lakh children have been brought under the mid-day meal scheme.

In addition, the extending the list of beneficiaries under the social security pension scheme to six lakh old, widow and handicapped persons have also earned the ruling party lot of goodwill, notwithstanding periodic charges of misappropriation by officials.

But things are slightly different in the other seat in the region-Berhampur, a general seat due to the lower ST/SC population. Congress candidate Jayanti Patnaik, wife of chief minister J.B.Patnaik, is facing a tough fight from BJP nominee Gopinath Gajapati, the scion of Paralakhemundi royal family and a former MP who recently switched allegiance from the Congress.

More than the ST/SC population, it is the Telugu-speaking population constituting about 38 per cent of the electroate that holds the key. This section is peeved at the denial of ticket to P V Narasimha Rao, who won iin 1996, playing the Telugu Bidda to the hilt. Congress campaingers are leaving no stone unturned to assuage their feelings. Jayanti has the blessings of Narasimha Rao, J.B. Patnaik is heard saying whenever he comes across Telugu voters.