Accepted Panels

Gandhi’s entry into nationalist movement in 1915 changed the nature of politics in Western India.With the nationalist movement and the importance of numbers of the minority and majority, all efforts were made by the nationalists to show that the Adivasis were within the fold of Hinduism. Census became a contentious issue with the 1911 census having a category called Tribal religions. By 1941, the adivasis were grouped as Hindu, Muslim, or animists. The Symington report of 1928 appointed by the British government identified Veth and the Sowcari system as social evils in the aboriginal areas that needs to be eradicated. Depressed Classes and Aboriginal Tribes Committee (March 1930) identified isolation of the backward areas as the reason for the social condition of the Tribes/aboriginals. This paper attempts to study the works of Gandhians like N.K.Bose, K.S.Singh, Indulal Yagnik, Sumant Mehta to understand the nature of politics with regard to religious conversions.  During the Swadeshi movement, Gandhi promoted the spinning of Khadi for rural self-employment. This made the Adivasis repose their faith in Gandhians.  The Government of India Act, 1935 made a provision for separate electorates in the backward areas (read aboriginal). This elicited a strong response form Gandhi as well as the nationalist Gandhians. N.K.Bose explains the acculturation and social absorption by the tribal society of Hindu rites and customs. He even goes to the extent of saying that economic affiliation is because of Hindu culture superior to the tribal culture.  The paper seeks to understand the differences in approach to the aboriginal problem by the nationalists and the British. The British and the Christian missionaries were synonymous for the nationalists and Gandhi. Their approach can be seen in their commissions and investigations unlike the nationalists who disagreed with them. Religious conversions become contentious during the Constituent assembly debates.