Rahul Gandhi strikes again! After Savarkar, it's the turn of "Vanvasi"

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Sukla Sen

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Nov 22, 2022, 3:47:15 PM11/22/22

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After Savarkar, it's an assault on the mean trickery: "Vanvasi"!

Yet another defining feature of Hindutva.

This is a term that is unmistakably linked to and the product of the spurious (foundational) thesis that the Aryans are the original inhabitants of this land and they're the rightful owners of this land -- to the exclusion of all others.

Hence the "Adivasi" (i.e. the "original inhabitant") has to be cunningly morphed into a mere (contemptible) "Vanvasi" -- the "jungle inhabitant".

The ace pragmatist that he is, Modi did immediately pick up the signal and has tried to make amends accordingly.

But this travel back to "Adivasi" cannot but be only ephemeral. It's, to be sure, only a temporary concession.

Post the poll, it'd surely be back to "Vanvasi" again.

But the concession unambiguously shows that it's hurting where it hurts. At least for now. That's how and why the PM had to stoop down.

So, the round one goes to Rahul!

Addendum:

As regards Feku's claim on the Congress vis-a-vis Adivasis, Gujarat had an Adivasi Chief Minister, Amarsinh Chaudhary, from the Congress from '85 to '89 -- more than a decade before Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister.