Tribals in the districts can be a perfect foil for the Muslim vote in many constituencies, feels party

It is common knowledge that after the encouraging win of four Parliamentary seats in Telangana, the Bharatiya Janata Party is looking forward to consolidating its presence in the State. According to sources, the party has set itself the task of negating or diluting the strength of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which the latter derives from the support it receives from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).

In the Lambada tribe, the right wing party seems to have found a group numerically large enough to counter balance the Muslim support under MIM banner, at least in the districts, as the minority party has proved too powerful to dislodge in the capital city. The recent events in which the BJP was seen wooing the Lambada tribe is a clear indication that it considers the plains tribe an indispensable entity and would concentrate on weaning it away from the TRS, to start with.

The process of weaning away the Lambadas, however, is expected to have its negative impact in the erstwhile Adilabad district where the Adivasi movement to expel the Lambada tribe from the list of Scheduled Tribes is the strongest. The BJP is likely to lose the support of Adivasis it had got in the last Lok Sabha elections in this district if it goes the whole hog in wooing the Lambada tribe.

“The BJP may not rethink its latest stance, thanks to the ‘indispensability’ of the Lambadas,” an insider revealed. “The aim is to nullify the Muslim vote though the party is sympathetic to the cause of the aboriginal people,” he explained, on the condition of anonymity.

The process of wooing the Lambadas started in July when Home Minister Amit Shah was seen enrolling Lambada women in the party when he participated in the membership drive in Hyderabad. Later, towards the end of August, BJP’s State president K. Laxman categorically assured that his party was not for removing Lambadas from the ST list. It was Mr. Laxman who had declared the BJP’s support to the Adivasi cause in April 2018 and had in fact fielded three Adivasis from four seats, including Adilabad MP seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the erstwhile Adilabad district. This was a first as all parties followed the unwritten rule of allocating two nominations each to aboriginal and Lambada candidates.

Population figures

Trying to logically explain the correctness of the BJP stand, sources in the party quoted population figures. They claim that the Muslim population in the State is over 50 lakh, about 75% of which is in Hyderabad.

Of the population of about 35 lakh STs in the State, over 23 lakh are Lambadas and the remaining are aboriginal people and other tribes. If the few lakh Lambadas living in the capital city are ignored, those living in the districts can be a perfect foil for the Muslim vote in many constituencies.

“Former composite Adilabad is perhaps the best example of the population gamut. The Muslims and Lambadas have equal numerical strength at 1.5 lakh,” another source pointed out.