The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state government's irreverence towards Tribal heroes, Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah, on Wednesday suggests that the ruling party is acting contrary to its long-standing claims.
On September 18, 2023-an election year in Madhya Pradesh-Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the memorial of the martyrs and paid floral tributes. However, this year Chief Minister Mohan Yadav maintained a distance from the Jabalpur shrine of the father-son duo.
The Chief Minister's staying away from the 'Samadhi Sthal' this year has given rise to rumors that the BJP's glorification of the martyrs last year was nothing more than an effort to woo tribal votes.
The BJP has forever maintained that it does not indulge in politics over such issues and has been vocal in its criticism of the Congress, whom it blames for politicizing martyrs in a bid to appease a demographic and earn votes.
Princes of the Gond kingdom, Raja Shankar Shah and his son, Kunwar Raghunath Shah, were executed by the British on September 18, 1857. The Jabalpur memorial for the martyrs was announced in 2019.
In stark contrast to last year, only the Minister In-charge of Jabalpur, Vijay Shah, was present at a brief event commemorating the occasion in Jabalpur, while Minister of State Sampatiya Uikey attended a commemorative program at Mandla.
While the BJP maintained that the Chief Minister's absence was necessitated by protocol, which dictated the arrival of President Droupadi Murmu in the state, Congressmen say that the lackluster commemoration is evidence of the BJP's apathy towards tribals in the state.
Madhya Pradesh Congress media in-charge Mukesh Nayak, while talking to The Pioneer, said that the BJP was a party of 'thugs' and accused the ruling party of neglecting martyrs and tribals.
"They are concerned only with the votes," said Nayak, while leading the charge from the Congress side. He accused the BJP of turning its back on the sentiments of the tribal community in the state.
Nayak further sought to remind the BJP of former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's vow to make the martyrdom commemoration a prominent statewide event.
The distinct difference in the event last year and this year has led BJP critics to launch accusations of only remembering tribal heroes during elections.
Tribal voters had elected 31 Congress legislators to the state assembly from the 47 segments dominated by the community in 2018.
The subsequent election for the Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha saw the BJP, led by Chouhan, launch a robust tribal outreach campaign in a bid to wean tribal voters away from the Congress.
Despite intense politicking over their martyrdom, Raja Shankar Shah and Kunwar Raghunath Shah remain relatively unknown in the state, as promises to include them in the school curriculum by former Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Kamal Nath remain unfulfilled.
