Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday, June 8, 2026, accused Congress governments of treating tribal communities as a vote bank while asserting that his administration has identified 128 tribal villages across the state for targeted, comprehensive development under special schemes.

Posting in Hindi on X, CM Dhami stated: 'Kaangres ki sarkaron ne janjaatiya samaaj ko keval votebank ke roop mein dekha' ['Congress governments viewed tribal society only as a vote bank, whereas our government is working with resolve for their respect, protection and all-round development']. He added that 128 tribal villages in the state have been identified and special schemes are being run for their holistic development.

Context

Uttarakhand, carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2000, is home to five Scheduled Tribes — including the Bhotia, Jaunsari, and Tharu communities — concentrated largely in the state's remote Himalayan border districts. These communities have historically faced gaps in infrastructure, livelihood support, and access to government services. CM Dhami's statement frames the village-identification exercise as a structural departure from what the BJP characterises as the previous Congress approach.

The post is a reply to @pushkardhami's own handle, suggesting it is part of a thread expanding on tribal welfare commitments. The accompanying four images, while not described in detail, appear to provide visual documentation of the government's outreach or scheme activities in tribal areas.

Policy Backdrop

The Centre's Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana, launched in 2014, was designed to accelerate socio-economic development in tribal areas by ensuring last-mile delivery of government schemes. Uttarakhand's state government has aligned its own tribal welfare architecture with this central framework. The Forest Rights Act, 2006, also recognised individual and community rights of tribal and forest-dwelling communities over traditional lands, forming a legal backbone for land-linked welfare measures.

The Tribal Sub-Plan mechanism, introduced during the Fifth Five Year Plan, mandates proportional budget allocations for Scheduled Tribe areas. BJP governments at both the state and central levels have increasingly used village-level targeting as a visible governance metric, framing it as corrective action against decades of neglect.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are residents of Scheduled Tribe communities across Uttarakhand's tribal belts, particularly in districts bordering Nepal and Tibet where infrastructure deficits are most acute. If implemented at scale, village-specific schemes covering infrastructure, livelihood, and cultural preservation could meaningfully alter development indices in these pockets.

The statement also carries political weight ahead of future assembly cycles, as tribal voters in Uttarakhand — while numerically smaller than in states like Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh — occupy strategically significant constituencies. The Congress has not yet responded to Dhami's characterisation of its record.

What's Next

The credibility of the 128-village initiative will be tested in subsequent state budget sessions and annual tribal welfare reviews, where civil society groups and opposition benches are expected to seek itemised progress reports. Observers will watch whether scheme outlays for these villages are reflected in Uttarakhand's upcoming budget allocations and whether independent audits confirm on-ground delivery.

With tribal welfare increasingly becoming a competitive political arena across India, CM Dhami's public commitment to a specific village count raises the stakes — and the accountability bar — for his administration's delivery record through the remainder of its term.