BHUBANESWAR: Tribals comprising 22% of Odisha’s population are certainly a major vote bank and with the elections coming closure all political parties are trying to play pro-tribal cards.Ahead of a tribal convention called by the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Thursday on the occasion of International Tribal Day, opposition BJP and Congress criticized the state government for its ‘anti-tribal’ policies and ‘neglecting’ the interest of tribals over the years. They dubbed BJD’s proposed tribal convention as a ‘poll gimmick’. On the other hand BJD claimed that the state government has launched several unique policies for the benefit of tribals and the convention is to celebrate their unique culture and life style.“Odisha government has formed one-of-its-kind Special Development Councils in 117 blocks of nine districts where Rs 175 crore will be spent per annum for area specific developments and preservation and promotion of their culture, language and indigenous knowledge. Tribal people know the reality very well for which they will come to the convention,” said Sudam Marndi, state convenor of BJD Tribal Front.Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will felicitate tribal leaders from across the state and district level conventions will be conducted in nine tribal districts in phased manner by August 13.President of State BJP Scheduled Tribe Morcha and Kuchinda MLA, Rabi Naik said that the convention is an attempt to hide the ‘failures’ of tribal policies of the BJD government. “Starting from malnutrition deaths in Nagada to Dana Majhi, killing of tribals at Kalinga Nagar and Gumudumaha, sexual assault on girls in residential schools are some of the stark realities of BJD government’s anti-tribal stand. By conducting this convention the BJD government is trying to mislead the innocent tribal people ahead of the polls.”Of the total 147 assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats in Odisha , as many as 34 and five seats are reserved for scheduled tribes in the assembly and Lok Sabha respectively. The state has 62 distinct scheduled tribes, 13 of which belong to the particularly vulnerable tribal groups.Criticizing both the Centre and state governments for engaging in vote-bank politics, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik said, “Both Centre and State governments are not actually doing anything for holistic development of these people, on the other hand, they are doing vote bank politics and presenting false data. The ground reality of downtrodden, poor people, of the SCs and STs remain unchanged. No minister or officers are visiting the tribal dominated areas to see their plight with their own eyes and to review the various schemes being implemented. Because of this Andhra Pradesh has tress-passed to many of our bordering districts of Koraput, Raygada, Malkangiri. There are many Nagada-like villages in the state. Girl students are being humiliated in residential hostels in tribal areas. In this scenario BJD and BJP are shedding crocodile tears in the name of schedule tribes.”

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