In Rajasthan, tribal party steps up bid to expand footprint, puts Congress in a fix :- Rajkumar Roat, leader of the BAP and MP for Banswara, is working to gain support from STs, SCs, and OBCs. He is a Congress supporter and wants to run for three seats in the upcoming Assembly by-elections.
Rajkumar Roat, 32, is the leader of the Bharatiya Adivasi Party (BAP) and the MP for Banswara. He is riding high after winning the recent Lok Sabha elections and has his eyes on the upcoming Assembly by-elections. He wants to grow his support and become a major tribal leader.
Through his trips to parts of Rajasthan with large populations of Scheduled Tribes (STs), Roat is telling the people and his opponents that his BAP will not be limited to Banswara.
“The people of the state want change, and if we have to, we will give it to them.” At the moment, I’m working to grow my party and bring together OBCs, SCs, and STs in western Rajasthan. “Events are being held to meet people and bring them into our group,” Roat told The Indian Express.
This is what people say: The BAP wants to run for three of the six Assembly places that are up for election. With this in mind, Roat wants to make himself look like a boss of the tribe. Some of these seats are Chorasi and Bagidora, where more than 70% of the people are ST.
Roat held roadshows in Barmer, Jalore, and Baltora, where thousands of people came to listen to him speak. The Congress, which fought the Lok Sabha elections with the BAP as part of the INDIA group, is now confused because Roat has talked about creating a third front in the state.
It will become a third front in the state if the government doesn’t work for the people. “The Congress and the BJP have been in charge of Rajasthan for 30 years with no one else in power,” the new MP from Banswara said.
Political opponents seem to be coming together at Roat’s events as well. Along with the BAP leader, Ummeda Ram Beniwal, the Congress MP for Barmer, and Ravindra Singh Bhati, the BJP MLA for Sheo, went to a rally in Barmer on September 1 put together by the Bhil tribal group.
Local Congress leaders are now in a tough spot because of this. “Even though Roat is ideologically against the BJP, local Congress leaders are worried.
It was important for Congress and BAP to work together in the Lok Sabha to keep the BJP at bay. “The leaders of Congress need to be honest about what will happen with the alliance,” a source in Congress said.
Kirodi Lal Meena, the fiery BJP tribal leader, seems to be losing power in the eastern part of the state, and Roat is trying to fill the void.
“Kirodi Lal Meena’s power is getting weaker after the BJP lost the recent Lok Sabha elections in eastern Rajasthan, where they only got one out of five seats. Roat wants to fill this vacancy.” A political expert said, “He has stayed out of trouble and is old, which are both good things.”
In the eastern Indian state of Rajasthan, the villages of Karauli, Dholpur, Dausa, and Bharatpur are home to a lot of ST people, mostly Meenas.
No BAP leader, not even Roat, has tried to get in touch with the Meenas because Kirodi Lal Meena is seen as important there. The MP for Banswara is from the Bhil group.
They are also aware of Roat’s efforts to become a mass leader. “It’s clear that he wants to win over leaders who aren’t in the BJP. He also went to an event with Congress people in Otwala village in Jalore that was put together by the SC and ST groups.
Ramila Meghwal, who is running for assembly, and Tararam Mehna, who is the national head of the Rashtriya Moolnivasi Sangh. A person close to the BJP said, “He is trying to build an image of a mass leader.”
A sarpanch in Barmer who did not want to be named said, “Roat is trying to take advantage of the fact that the non-Meghwal SC communities feel discriminated against because they do not have a voice in politics.”
In different parts of the state, there are also large groups of Jatavs, Bairwas, Chambhars, and Dhankas who are not Meghwals.