Days after two tribal men were killed after being assaulted on the suspicion of theft at an under-construction tribal museum near the Statue of Unity (SoU) in Narmada district, the Garudeshwar taluka saw a total shutdown in response to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Chaitar Vasava call for bandh to protest the murders.
Traders, shopkeepers and autorickshaw drivers stayed off the roads Friday, which was also the World Tribal Day. Although the town and village areas of Garudeshwar taluka remained closed throughout the day, SoU and its peripheral tourist areas remained open.
The Dediapada MLA had called for the bandh in Garudeshwar demanding that the police add the contracting agency constructing the tribal museum as an accused in the FIR of the double murder of Jayesh Tadvi and Sanjay Tadvi.
On Friday, the Garudeshwar police took the six accused to the crime scene — the tribal museum near Ekta Nagar — where they had allegedly confined the two men in their 30s to a cabin on August 6 night before assaulting them with pipes and iron rods. While Jayesh succumbed to the injuries and died in a hospital the next day, Sanjay, who was in critical condition, died at Rajpipla Civil Hospital Thursday.
Meanwhile, addressing a gathering on the World Tribal Day at Dediapada, MLA Chaitar Vasava reiterated his demand for the creation of Bhil Pradesh to ensure “justice for tribals”. Urging people to join a show of strength at Ekta Nagar on August 13 when the families of the Tadvis will organise a prayer meeting, Vasava said, “I am requesting the youth to use all your power not to dance and fight internally but to join forces in creating Bhil Pradesh. We will take leadership to ensure that no tribal is meted out injustice anywhere, right from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and MP… We all have to go to Kevadia (Ekta Nagar) on August 13 to show our unity…”
He added that the tribals have resources to take care of themselves. “We (tribals) have land, forests, water, lithium mines, uranium, sand mines… give us a different state, we will take care of our tribal people. We will create Bhil Pradesh from the 12 tribal districts of Rajasthan, 14 in Gujarat and 10 in Maharashtra and a few districts of Madhya Pradesh. Just like there is Gujarat for Gujaratis, Maharashtra for Marathis, and Telanganafor Telugus, similarly, we want Bhil Pradesh as the 29th state of India,” Vasava said.
