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Who Is Indigenous? The Politics of Tribal Identity Terminology in India and Bangladesh

Tribal people in South Asia prefer being called adivasi or original inhabitants, but nationalist forces in India and Bangladesh oppose it for different reasons.

Dancers and drummers of the Kurukh Oraon Adivasi community of eastern India.

On August 9, the government in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal did not host events marking the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Last year, the day was celebrated with events across the state over four days. The new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government that came to power in May issued a notice on August 5, stating that this year’s celebration was cancelled. No reason was given for the decision.

West Bengal’s indigenous people’s organizations protested the move, as did the opposition parties. “This is an assault on the indigenous people’s identity and pride,” Mayukh Biswas, a leader of the West Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India-Marxists, said, alleging that the decision stemmed from the BJP’s ideological project of denying the adivasi (indigenous/aboriginal) identity of the tribal population.

Peeved by the government’s neglect, several indigenous peoples’ organizations in West Bengal took out processions to celebrate the day on August 9.

In Bangladesh on the same day, tribal groups pressed for their long-standing demand that they be called adivasi/indigenous people. As the Bangladesh government does not officially celebrate the International Day for the World’s Indigenous Peoples, tribal groups celebrated on their own.

West Bengal’s BJP government’s decision does not come as a surprise. In 2021, it formally institutionalized November 15 as “Janjatiya Gaurav Divas” (Tribal Pride Day). Since 2022, neither President Droupadi Murmu, who comes from a tribal community, nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shared any celebratory message on August 9. In contrast, November 15 receives extensive state patronage.

In fact, in 2024, one of the BJP’s crucial ideological partners alleged that “external forces and Christian missionaries” were seeking to divide society using Indigenous People’s Day.

The August 9 event has “indigenous people” in the name of the day. In the Indo-Aryan group of languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, and Sinhalese, this is best expressed by the word adivasi. The name of the November 15 event includes janajati, which translates to “tribal” in English.

The argument over what to call the tribal peoples — adivasi, janajati or upajati — may look like a dispute over vocabulary. But it is not. It is actually an argument over history, nationhood, and political rights, especially in India and Bangladesh.

The term “adivasi” literally means original inhabitants and stands closer to globally popular terms like indigenous people and aboriginal. It carries a claim of original or prior inhabitation. When linked to land, historical continuity, and collective rights, this can acquire political significance. Terms such as janajati (tribe), upajati (sub-tribe) or vanvasi (forest dwellers) do not make that claim in the same way.

This is why the term “adivasi” is also popular in Nepal and Sri Lanka. Nepali society has gone through phases of intense debate over using adivasi or janajati. However, the debate faded somewhat as Nepal legally termed them Indigenous Nationalities or Adivasi Janajati — combining adivasi and janajati, calling the two terms complementary. In Sri Lanka, the usage of adivasi is rather new, gaining popularity since the 1990s, without much of a conflict over the term.

While organizations of the tribal people prefer the term adivasi/Mulbasi/mulnibasi (indigenous/aboriginal), Hindu religious nationalists in India and different nationalist groups in Bangladesh oppose this.

In India, the Hindu nationalists, which include Modi’s BJP and its ideological-organizational parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), argue that “original inhabitants” would imply that other Indians are outsiders. The Sangh therefore prefers terms such as vanvasi and janajati to describe the adivasis.

In contrast, Rahul Gandhi, India’s main opposition leader, issues........

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