Why Adivasi leaders in Rajasthan marched to the education minister’s house with blood samples
The protest led by newly-elected MP Rajkumar Roat is part of a long history of assertion by Adivasis against the Hindutva claim that they are Hindu.
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Holding a packet of tubes containing blood samples, newly-elected Member of Parliament from Banswara in southern Rajasthan, Rajkumar Roat, marched to the home of the state education minister in Jaipur on June 29 to protest the Hindutva claim that Adivasis are Hindus.
On June 21, Rajasthan education minister and Bharatiya Janata Party member Madan Dilawar, when asked about Roat’s long-held assertion that Adivasis are not Hindu, told reporters that “a DNA test should be done to verify whether he [Roat] is the son of a Hindu”.
In response, Roat and his supporters protested by attempting to deliver their blood samples to Dilawar at his home. Roat, the co-founder of the Bharat Adivasi Party, was accompanied by party colleague and legislator Umesh Meena, and Congress legislators Ramkesh Meena and Ghanshyam Mahar.
Stopped by the police, the Adivasi MLAs went to the Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial to protest, demanding that Dilawar apologise to the community and resign from his post. “The time is over when people could say whatever they want about Adivasis, and they would remain quiet,” Roat told a reporter of Bharat Raftar who was on the spot. “Adivasis have now awoken.”
Speaking to Scroll on the phone, Roat said: “I understand that a blood test can’t determine a person’s religion.” But Dilawar had...
