In Chhattisgarh’s mining belt, Congress’s ‘doublespeak’ leaves Adivasi voters disgruntled

Yacub Kujur, a tribal rights activist and pastor, lives in Pathalgaon, a trading outpost in north Chhastisgarh’s Jashpur district. When we met one rainy November afternoon at the bus stop of the adjacent town of Kunkuri, known for what was once Asia’s second-largest church, it was clear that an election was imminent. Campaign songs rented the air heavy with the rotten smell of firecrackers that the supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate had set off in bulk to mark the official inauguration of his campaign.

As we tried hearing each other over the din, Kujur recounted how in the last Assembly election in 2018 “all NGOs and movements” in the area had nudged people to vote for the Congress during meetings and other public events.

The support stemmed from a belief that after 15 years of BJP rule, a Congress government would be more sympathetic to the anxieties of local Adivasi groups. The Congress had, after all, in its campaign promised to strengthen local governance institutions that would help the tribal communities secure their rights.

Civil society’s endorsement certainly helped the Congress. The party did well across the state, notching up Congress’s best performance in any election held in the Narendra Modi era....

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