Tribal dilemma in Cong stronghold amid polls
TAPI: For the 42 years that he has lived, Surendra Gamit has been sustained by the river Tapi. But now, for the first time, he is afraid of it. “The government wants to bring these big projects that will make the river swell, and take away our way of life, our homes. I want development. But I don’t want to be swallowed by the river. I will vote for a party that understands this fear,” Gamit says. Thuti is 100km and a world away from the skyscrapers and shopping complexes that define Surat. The village is sparsely populated; most people grow paddy, or sometimes chickpea, spending days tending to their farms or cattle. Different world it may be, but this poll season, villages such as Thuti are bathed in political significance.