ABSTRACT
During the 1990s the Congress party in Madhya Pradesh attempted to broaden the base of the party and introduce programmes for the upliftment of the weaker sections, particularly dalits and tribals who have formed a significant part of its social base. However, the adoption of a Dalit Agenda as part of the Bhopal Document at the Bhopal Conference on January 12 and 13, 2002 by the Digvijay Singh government took this process forward by introducing radically new programmes for dalits and tribals. The policies adopted in 1993 when the party came to power—influenced by liberalization and the emergence of a more competitive economy in the country— were based on three premises: placing human development at the centre of the developmental ideology of the state, using political decentralization and grassroots participation for development, and deploying strategies of public–private partnership to implement programmes for the weaker sections. From here, the adoption of the Dalit Agenda was a step forward, a part of the larger vision that was now used to target a section of the population selected as disadvantaged and backward and in need of state assistance. The adoption of the Dalit Agenda at the Bhopal Conference was neither a sudden step, nor a change in ideology or direction by the second Digvijay Singh government formed in 1998. Many programmes for dalits and tribals put forward by the BD such as land distribution and education were already being implemented and these were carried forward. This chapter analyzes the developments leading to the Bhopal Conference of 2002 and the adoption of the Dalit Agenda that included programmes for both dalits and tribals by the Digvijay Singh government. It argues that the BD discussed at the Conference represents a new dalit intellectual initiative, by an educated class of dalits and tribal leaders keen to formulate a new vision for the upliftment of dalits and tribals. The ideas put forward by the authors of the Document were in keeping with globalization of the economy and shrinking of the earlier welfare state, as traditional policies of reservation were no longer viewed as useful. The Conference was a partnership between the political leadership and a new generation of dalit and tribal intellectuals.
