HINDUTVA'S TRIBAL TROUBLES

On July 21, a video went viral of a saffron flag hoisted at the Ambagarh garrison ramparts being torn while it was being taken down.

- Rohit Parihar

The flag was planted by local Hindutva outfits a week before and was taken down by the Rajasthan Adivasi Meena Sangh led by its president and independent MLA from Gangapur City, Ramkesh Meena. The Meenas were apparently angry at the Hindutva outfit’s attempt to appropriate a temple of Amba Mata Devi—a goddess revered by the tribal community—at the fort.

Soon, social media was agog with outraged comments from both sides, with some sections tying the events to a ‘sanatan saffron’ cause. Hindutva groups and fringe personalities, including Suresh Chavhanke, editor-in-chief of the controversial Sudarshan TV channel, precipitated matters with a call to the public to march to the fort to “reinstal the saffron flag with Jai Shri Ram written on it” on August 1. Realizing the situation could turn explosive, FIRs were filed against both Chavhanke and Ramkesh Meena, the police was deployed and the fort was sealed.

Initially, the BJP kept off the controversy but after reports of a backlash from the Meena community, the party brought its MP and influential community leader Kirori Lal Meena into play. His first action was to attack Ramkesh Meena and the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government, saying they were trying to create a divide between the Hindus and the tribal Meena. He also declared that he would “unfurl a flag” at the fort. Despite heavy deployment of police all around, Kirori Lal, 69, and his men, braving the rains, climbed through the thick forest and unfurled the flag on the morning of August 1. But it wasn’t a saffron flag; it was a flag of the Meena community. That move left both sides stumped briefly, but the matter was soon back on the boil.