Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath will on Sunday attend separate gatherings of tribals in Indore as the BJP and the Congress intensify their efforts to win over the ST community whose vote is crucial in the assembly polls, due later this year.
A BJP functionary said at least 50,000 saffron workers from the tribal-dominated Indore division are expected to attend the "Vijay Sankalp Sammelan" in Shah's presence.
On the other hand, Kamal Nath will attend the "Adivasi Yuva Mahapanchayat" being organised by students and unemployed tribal youths to highlight their issues.
BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Saturday told reporters that some people were spreading misunderstanding among the tribal community in Madhya Pradesh.
“Some people involved in anti-social and anti-national activities are spreading a misconception among tribals that Lord Hanuman is not their deity. These people also tried to keep away tribal students staying in hostels from attending Navratri and Ganeshotsav,” he alleged.
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Vijayvargiya claimed BJP has cleared all these misconceptions and tribals stand in support of the saffron party.
Separately, the "Adivasi Yuva Mahapanchayat" will be attended by Nath and NSUI in-charge Kanhaiya Kumar.
Vijayvargiya pointed to the alleged anti-India sloganeering on the JNU campus in 2016, to target Kanhaiya Kumar and Congress.
“Kumar has switched sides to Congress. But even if a person changes his mask, his identity does not change. The Congress is now bringing forward such people...you can understand the mentality of this party," the BJP leader said.
Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Santosh Singh Gautam alleged the BJP is trying to mislead the tribal community by diverting the attention from basic issues ahead of the upcoming elections.
"During the last assembly elections, the BJP was defeated by Congress in tribal-dominated areas. We will maintain this performance this time also with the support of the tribal community," he said.
In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, the Congress emerged as the single largest party by winning 114 seats in the 230-member House while the BJP bagged 109 seats. The Congress went on to form a coalition government under Nath but it collapsed in March 2020 when nearly two dozen MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia quit Congress and later joined the BJP, paving the way for the return of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the chief minister once again.