A group of 80 men from Chhattisgarh representing various tribes and holding social ranks in their communities, visited the Capital to attend the 67{+t}{+h}Republic Day parade under an initiative by the State Tribal Welfare Department.
Dressed in their traditional attire as they formed a queue near the parade venue, these guests from the Central Indian State have come from the predominantly tribal districts including Bastar, Bijapur and Sukma.
They said they were excited to be a part of the annual celebrations and would like to come again. Veko Mada from a village in Sukma said while he had occasionally watched the coverage of the parade in someone else’s television, he never thought he would come and watch it live on the venue. According to Kalyan Singh Masram, Assistant Commissioner of Chhattisgarh Tribal Welfare Department, the State Government sponsored the trip as a welfare scheme and also to make them understand the rich cultural diversity of the country on display.
It was also a promise that Chief Minister Raman Singh had made when he had attended the Bastar Dussera celebrations last year.
There are many firsts in this journey for some of those who have crossed thousands of miles to reach the Capital. Their stories manifest the basic facilities that their regions lack.
Though in their fifties or even in their sixties, there were few in the group who had never travelled in a train (Southern districts of the State along the border with Telangana do not have train connectivity even today).
Some recalled how for a day long journey, they had to start another day in advance.
For a majority, this was their first visit to the Capital, but some had not even been to Raipur, the State Capital nearly 300 km from Bastar, earlier.
Those chosen for this trip include the Manjhis-Chalkis-Sirhas (headmen, head priests, traditional remedies physicians) of the tiny hamlets from the far flung and left wing extremism affected areas of the Central Indian State.
The group is scheduled to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and visit a few tourist spots before they leave on January 29.
