Tribal delegation to meet Prez, PM with proposal for 'Bhil state': MP Roat

Jaipur: A delegation will meet President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the proposal for a separate state for the the Bhil community, MP Rajkumar Roat said Thursday while addressing a rally at Mangarh Dham in Rajasthan's Banswara district.

A large number of people of the Bhil tribe from neighbouring states, including Gujarat and Rajasthan, had gathered at Mangarh Dham, a highly revered place of the community, for the public meeting.

In the rally organised by the tribal leaders, newly elected MP Roat said the formation of a 'Bhil state' is long due and the Bhartiya Adivasi Party (BAP) is raising the issue with full strength.

"The demand for Bhil Pradesh is not new. The BAP is raising this demand strongly," he said.

"After the mega rally, a delegation will meet the president and the prime minister with the proposal," the tribal MP said.

He added that he will raise the issue in the Lok Sabha as well.

Umesh Meena, BAP MLA from Aspur, and Dhariyawad MLA Thawarchand Bhil participated in the rally donning T-shirts with slogans demanding 'Bhil state'.

"The sacrifice of more than 1,500 tribals at Mangarh in 1913 was not just for the Bhakti movement, but for the demand of Bhil province," Roat later said in a post on X.

The tribal community has been demanding the creation of a 'Bhil state' by combining 49 districts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.