When All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi visits Lanjigarh, the site of the Niyamgiri Hills in Orissa?s bauxite belt, to hold a rally on August 27, it will be a triumphant return for him and possibly the start of a renewed effort to unsettle the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
In March 2008, Gandhi had been one of the first to visit the area and its indigenous tribals, the Dongria Khonds. He had spoken out against the proposed bauxite mining plans in the area. ?Personally, I feel mining will destroy the environment, destroy the water source and destroy the culture as well as the livelihood of the tribals,? he had said then.
The project fronted by the Orissa Mining Development Corporation (OMDC) along with UK’s Vedanta Group has been halted in its tracks by adverse Supreme Court comments and a damning report by a central committee, which took into account the impact of the project on the lives of the 10,000 strong tribe in the area.
As vote banks go, the tribes are a miniscule minority in the state and the area, but the symbolism of championing their cause is not lost on anyone.
According to assessment reports filed by Congressmen on the party?s prospects in Orissa, Niyamgiri and Posco projects had been flagged as possible issues on which to drum up support.
?Unlike Gujarat, land here is fertile. Being a poor state, Orissa is less dependent on commerce, trade and industry and more on agriculture. Land acquisition was always an issue here,? said a senior leader who had been associated with these reports.
Posco, however, had the blessings of the Central government and therefore has fared a little better.
Gandhi?s consistent opposition to the bauxite mining plan in the area had doomed the project from the start.
Gandhi?s proposed visit to Lanjigarh has already had the desired effect for the Congress party as far as energising it is concerned.
The state government held a parallel rally last week, led by industry minister Damodar Rout, decrying efforts by the Centre to ?keep the Dongria Khonds backward by denying them the fruits of industrialisation?.
Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik?s stranglehold on the state has been a cause of worry for the Congress, which has been desperately trying to find a political foothold in the state. Anti-christian violence as an issue has fizzled out with the break in the BJP-BJD alliance.