The video of Pravesh Shukla, a representative of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kedarnath Shukla, urinating on a tribal in Madhya Pradesh's Sidhi district, has shocked the conscience of the entire nation. The inhumanity, indecency, and brutality required for anyone to indulge in such an act is beyond comprehension. But only until we remain ignorant of the power dynamics and deep-rooted prejudice at play.
The video revealed how power-obsessed ruling party leaders mistreat us citizens as lesser humans.
We are condemned to be helpless against them as these leaders have the might of the regime behind them.
The Cold Shoulder From People in Power Towards Citizens
Merely being powerful, unafraid of legal consequences, and contemptuous of normal citizens can’t explain the act by the BJP worker. One needs to name the mindset at the root of it – the deep-rooted prejudice against tribals.
It is this perverted sense of superiority that treats tribals as inferior human beings who need to be assaulted and dehumanised.
Pravesh Shukla and BJP MLA Kedarnath Shukla.
(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)
At one level, it also revealed starkly how the culture of impunity prevalent in the BJP emboldens party leaders to commit the most unthinkable of crimes.
When they see that the BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh still roams free after serious sexual assault cases or when they see Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh not facing any accountability for the collapse of law and order in his state, subconsciously, they realise that they can get away with their most brute instincts if they are in the ruling party. And the BJP worker Pravesh Shukla nearly got away with this brutality too, until the video went viral, and the BJP was boxed in a corner in poll-bound states.
It is important to consider the evidence of discrimination, insulting, and prejudice against tribals beyond this incident.
Instances of Ignorance Towards Tribals From Past Years
Our honourable President Droupadi Murmu, who is a tribal, was not invited by the BJP government to the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building, even though, as per the Constitution, the President is part of the Indian Parliament.
When the BJP formed government three times in Chhattisgarh, which has 90% population of SC, ST, and OBC, it still made Raman Singh, a Thakur, the chief minister there every time, without once giving the opportunity to a tribal in a state whose population is dominantly tribal. In fact, the tallest tribal from the BJP in Chhattisgarh, Nand Kumar Sai, had to quit the party.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP took away the chief-ministership of Jharkhand from tribals and made a non-tribal leader with no base, Raghubar Das, the chief minister of the state.
The Prime Minister and the BJP are affected by the loss of life and property in France, but they remain insensitive to the plight of tribal-dominated Manipur. The Prime Minister has not visited the burning city, where hundreds of tribals have died. Would he have remained similarly insensitive if non-tribals had lost their property and lives like tribals are losing in Manipur?
In 2022, the Modi government even weakened the Forest Right Act, 2006, by removing the need for an NOC from gram sabhas for land diversion. Further, the tribals have been denied even the right to protest against losing their land.
It’s clear from these incidents that the BJP and its leadership have been known to discriminate against tribals and deprive them of their rights. They even aim to overrule tribal customs and introduce a Uniform Civil Code, making tribal customs and traditions illegal.
But the BJP still needs their votes to win elections, so they are careful not to let the truth slip out.
This viral incident may finally reveal the truth about the BJP’s prejudice against tribals. No wonder then that the whole regime has launched a full-fledged media cover-up to hide the truth. From sending bulldozers with cameras to the accused's house to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself washing the victim’s feet, the BJP is belatedly trying to contain the damage.
But the BJP may finally realise that not all truths can be hidden by the media, at least not for too long.
(Dilip Pandey is an MLA, Chief Whip (RP) in Delhi Assembly, Vice President of Delhi's state unit, and National Spokesperson of the Aam Aadmi Party. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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