SEEKING TO allay apprehensions among tribal communities over the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that no provision of the UCC would apply to tribals and asserted that the law would not encroach upon their rights, customs or traditions.
Addressing the “Janjati Suraksha Samagam” — a massive tribal mobilisation organised by the RSS-linked Janjati Suraksha Manch (JSM) and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram — at the Red Fort grounds, Shah said: “A conspiracy has started where it is being said that the UCC will deprive tribals of their right to follow their culture and traditions. I want to make it clear today that no provision of UCC will be applicable to tribals. UCC will not encroach upon the rights of tribals.”
The statement is significant because the UCC has long been one of the core ideological projects of the RSS and BJP, and tribal groups in several regions have expressed apprehension that a common civil code could dilute customary tribal practices and community laws.
Shah said BJP-ruled Gujarat and Uttarakhand had already made “special provisions” to keep tribals outside the ambit of the UCC. “I want you to go across the country with this message. Tell people there is nothing to fear from the UCC,” he said.
Shah’s remarks came at an event that also carried strong undertones of the Sangh Parivar’s long-running ideological campaign against religious conversions among tribals. Referring to conversion indirectly, Shah said the Constitution gave every citizen the right to follow their “indigenous faith” with dignity, but added that “nobody can convert anyone through allurement or by force”.
“Tribals follow a range of beliefs and worship nature which connects us to Sanatan Dharma. Today we have to take the pledge that we will protect our faith. It is our faith that will keep us connected to our culture and even our country,” he said.
The remarks are likely to be read in the backdrop of the mobilisation carried out over the past several years by the JSM — an organisation formed around 2005-06 specifically to raise the demand for delisting converted Christians from the Scheduled Tribes category. The JSM has organised rallies across tribal-dominated regions of central India and the Northeast arguing that converted tribals continue to avail reservation benefits despite moving away from indigenous faith systems.
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Its national convenor Ganesh Ram Bhagat has been among the most vocal proponents of the demand, while the organisation’s co-convenor Dr Rajkishore Hansda is a long-time functionary of the RSS-affiliated Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, which has worked among tribal communities since the 1950s and historically opposed Christian missionary activity in tribal belts.
At Sunday’s event, Shah praised Bhagat and other organisers, saying the “movement of tribal identity, unity and protection of tribal culture” launched by them was “the first movement after Bhagwan Birsa Munda’s Ulgulan Andolan to bring the nation together”.
The gathering, organised to mark the 150th birth anniversary year of tribal icon Birsa Munda, drew participants from hundreds of tribal communities across the country. Organisers had claimed ahead of the event that over 1.5 lakh people representing more than 500 tribal groups would attend.
In his address, Shah sought to weave tribal identity into the broader Hindutva narrative. Invoking episodes from the Ramayana, he said those trying to divide society forget that “during Treta Yug, Lord Ram, by eating berries tasted by Shabari, had taught us that we are all one,” and that “by washing the feet of Nishad Raj, Lord Ram had paid respect to tribals”.
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He underlined what he described as the BJP’s political and welfare commitment to tribal communities, a constituency the party has sought aggressively to expand among over the past decade but where it still faces uneven electoral success across regions.
“The BJP has always believed in the welfare of tribals. Until Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister, there was no Tribal Welfare Ministry,” Shah said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had increased the tribal welfare budget from Rs 28,000 crore to Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
Seeking to project the BJP as a vehicle for tribal political empowerment, Shah pointed to the election of Droupadi Murmu as President, the creation of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh during Vajpayee’s tenure, and the presence today of tribal chief ministers in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Shah also claimed the government had effectively ended the Maoist insurgency that had affected tribal regions for decades. “We have just finished the five-decade-old Maoist problem,” he said, adding that 70 security camps had been converted into “Shaheed Veer Gunda Dhur Seva Dera Jan Suvidha Kendras”.
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He further spoke about implementation of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), saying the government had created a dedicated PESA cell and translated rules and guidelines into multiple tribal languages.
