'Adivasi Jallianwala': Mangarh Dham takes centrestage as BJP, Congress eye tribal vote bank in three poll-bound states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday declared Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan’s Banswara district a national monument and urged the governments of Rajastha, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra to prepare a roadmap to develop the site of the tribal uprising against the British.

The dham, a memorial for around 1,500 tribals massacred by the British army in 1913, is located in Rajasthan's Banswara district close to the borders of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, a region with a large tribal population. He also asked the governments to  “pledge to work together” for the welfare of tribal communities in the four states. 

Sharing the stage with Ashok Gehlot, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Bhupendra Patel, PM Modi paid tributes to the 1,500 tribals, led by Govind Guru, who were massacred by the British at Mangarh Dham on November 17, 1913. 

The four states together under the leadership of the Centre can develop the dham more so that tribal leader Govind Guru's place, Mangarh Dham, can get a global identity, the prime minister said addressing a gathering, comprising tribals, among others. 

The event is also being seen as the BJP's outreach to the community ahead of the assembly polls in Gujarat in the next few weeks and in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh next year.

The Congress has been eyeing the tribal vote bank in the three states. Last week, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wrote a letter to PM Modi reiterating his demand for Mangarh Dham to be declared a national monument. 

Mangarh Dham is known for the massacre of tribals that took place six years before Jallianwalla Bagh and is sometimes referred to as the “Adivasi Jallianwala”. British forces killed hundreds of Bhil tribals on November 17, 1913, in the hills of Mangarh on the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The site - now a national monument - is revered by the tribals of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and is a key element of tribal identity that both the BJP and the Congress have been attempting to harness. 

The importance of the site can be gauged from the fact that one of the main objectives of BTP, formed in 2017, is the creation of a separate “Bhil Pradesh” and that goal has its roots in Mangarh Dham.