The Congress party seems to have temporarily wriggled out of a tricky situation by shifting the venue of AICC president Rahul Gandhi’s October 20 public meeting from Neredigonda or Ichoda in Boath (ST) constituency of Adilabad district to Bhainsa town in Mudhole constituency in Nirmal district. According to party sources, the venue was changed to avoid aboriginal tribes — a sizeable population in the reserved constituency — demanding the leader to declare his party’s stand on the Adivasi-Lambada tribe conflict.

There was a likelihood of the aboriginal people staging a vociferous protest during the meeting. They have already staged a protest in Adilabad district headquarters town denouncing the efforts of senior leaders in the district unit to select Neredigonda mandal headquarters as the venue.

Tribal conflict

The trigger was a top leader in the district unit pushing the case of a Lambada leader for the party nomination from Boath. This has not gone down well with the Adivasis who are charging the Congress of siding with the Lambadas.

It is over a year since the conflict between the ethnic tribes and Lambadas started. The former are accusing the latter of wrongfully gaining entry into the Scheduled Tribes (STs) list and cornering all benefits meant for the aboriginal tribes.

Erstwhile undivided Adilabad district has three constituencies reserved for STs (Boath, Khanapur and Asifabad), besides the Adilabad pParliamentary constituency. It has been customary with political parties to nominate Adivasi candidates from two seats and Lambada candidates from the remaining two.

This time, however, the aboriginal people are demanding that they be nominated from all the reserved seats — especially, Khanapur (ST) — based not only on their numerical superiority but because they maintain that Lambadas are not STs.

Perceived injustice

“The Congress had given clear indications that Adivasi candidates will be fielded from Asifabad and Boath while a Lambada will be put up from Khanapur in the coming election. This means the party does not care about the injustices meted out to us,” accused an Adivasi Congressman on conditions of anonymity.

According to estimates, there are about 3.5 lakh ethnic voters and 1.1 lakh Lambada voters in the old Adilabad district. The ethnic leaders claim that the number of voters is more than 70,000 in Asifabad, more than 60,000 in Khanapur and about 40,000 in Boath, which is much more than the number of Lambada voters. Hence their demand for nomination from all three seats.