MP: Congress Restored Tribal Lands to Rightful Owners Through Legislations: Rahul
Bhopal: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that it was his party which restored rights of tribals on their lands through various legislations.
Addressing a public meeting at Badnawar in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh on the sidelines of his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Mr Gandhi said that the tribals were the real owner of India and they were not forest dwellers as was being projected by BJP.
With this consideration, Congress made several legislations such as Tribal Bill, PESA Act and Land Acquisition Bill to ensure that the tribals have rights on their lands.
“BJP calls ‘Adivasis’ as ‘Vanvasi’. Adivasis are the real owners of India. BJP does not want tribals to realise this because in that case BJP thinks Adivasis will have to be given the rights over jungle, water and land”, Mr Gandhi said.
The Congress leader cited a recent incident in Madhya Pradesh in which a local BJP leader was seen in a video that went viral, urinating on the face of a tribal and said that ‘This is the attitude of BJP towards tribals and other weaker sections of the society’.
He said that tribals constitute 24 percent of population in Madhya Pradesh and eight percent of population in the country.
But, not a single tribal in the country owns an industry or a media house, he said.
Mr Gandhi reiterated his pledge to conduct a caste survey in the country if Congress came to power at the Centre, saying that ‘A caste-census can alone do justice to the poor, dalits and other weaker sections of the society’.
Addressing the public meeting, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge said that unemployment in the country was now the highest in the country in the last 45 years. The inflation was also rising.
“Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) is not interested in closing the gap between the rich and poor. Mr Modi wants that the rich should become richer and the poor should become poorer”, he said.
Mr Kharge took strong exception to the reported statement by RBI that the donors of electoral bonds would be declared after the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, despite the directive by the supreme court to reveal their names.
“Why is BJP trying to conceal the names of donors of electoral bonds”, he questioned.
Mr Kharge also slammed Mr Modi for using the term ‘Modi guarantees’ frequently, wondering why the latter was not terming it ‘BJP guarantees’.
He reminded Mr Modi about the latter’s promise to create two crore jobs and asked him why the ‘Modi guarantee’ was not fulfilled.
The Madhya Pradesh leg of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra came to a close on Wednesday.
Mr Gandhi is scheduled to spend the night in Sarban village under Ratlam district in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday and leave for Rajasthan on Thursday morning.
