The forgotten issue of the Diddalli tribe

Mysuru: More than a year after the Diddalli agitation in December 2016 which shook the State Government, the problem has become a non-issue in the Assembly elections. Around 577 tribal families were forcibly removed from the Devamachi forests accusing them as encroachers. The uproot resulted in a major agitation in December where the State Government had to intervene and provide the promise of rehabilitation. The issue had created headlines and made human rights activists take up the cause of the Diddalli tribals.

But after all this time, the condition of the tribals has not improved and they have been further angered by the state of inaction of the Congress Government and the BJP candidates who were the local MLAs. In the first few months, a certain amount of work was taken up in order to pacify the tribals, but it ceased after a point of time.

The 11,200 voters in Diddalli have been relocated to Basavanahalli and Madalapura, where they were provided with makeshift housing, but not everyone has benefitted from it. People are angered that the tribals were just used as vote banks, ignoring their helpless state.

NGOs are of the opinion that justice to the community is a long-drawn battle, which might not be affected by which party comes into power. But the tribals who have traditionally supported the Congress have to eventually make a decision.