Jual Oram warns BJD govt of serious consequences on tribal land sale decision

Bhubaneswar: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Sundergarh Lok Sabha member Jual Oram on Sunday sought to fire across the bows of Odisha’s ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), saying the latter’s recent decision allowing sale of tribal lands to non-tribals was a move like “playing with fire.”

Warning of serious consequences, Oram urged the state government to immediately withdraw its Cabinet decision on tribal land sale.

The BJP leader, while interacting with the media persons here, said, “The Odisha government is playing with fire by trying to tamper with the existing law of the tribal land sale and transfer. The tribals are quite opposed to it as it would open the floodgates for land grabbing by unscrupulous elements,” said Oram.

Oram served as Union tribal affairs minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee government as well as in the Narendra Modi cabinet.

He demanded that the state government bring out withdrawal of its Cabinet decision on the issue through a gazette notification.

“The Cabinet decision must be terminated by the Cabinet itself. The government must not fool us by sending the Cabinet decision to the Tribal Advisory Committee (TAC). Odisha’s tribals know what is being done to them,” Oram observed.

He cautioned the state government that it would get a “befitting reply” from the tribals at the proper time if it pursued its “anti-tribal” policy.

“The Odisha government should scrap the Cabinet decision and publish it in the gazette notification,” he added.

On November 14, the Odisha state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had cleared a proposal that sought to revoke the current restrictions on sale of tribal lands to non-tribal lands.