Gandhinagar
With 40 tribal-influenced Assembly seats in mind, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday sought to reach out to the Scheduled Tribes of his home State by enlisting the work done for the community by successive BJP governments as he flagged off the Bhagwan Birsa Munda Adivasi Gaurav Yatra from Unai Mata temple in Navsari district.
The Adivasi Gaurav Yatra is one of the five Yatras that the BJP has launched as its public outreach campaign. BJP president JP Nadda launched two of the Yatras on Wednesday while Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched three. Nadda made it clear the Yatras will be dedicated to “our tribal brothers”.
Addressing the rally after launching the Yatra, Shah said the tribals have put their faith in the BJP in Gujarat since 1990 and exuded confidence that they will continue to do so keeping the work done by Narendra Modi during his tenure as the Gujarat Chief Minister as well as the Prime Minister.
Asking the tribal leaders to ensure the victory of the saffron party in all the 40 tribal-dominated Assembly seats, Shah said that it was the BJP that had decided to start a dedicated Tribal Welfare Ministry and tribal commission when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
“When Narendrabhai was Gujarat Chief Minister, he launched the Van Bandhu Yojana. Under this scheme, he ensured development of a 400-km long tribal belt right from Ambaji to Umargam. He served 1 crore tribal people in the state for 13 years. Because of your blessings (tribal people) he went on to become Prime Minister and now he is working for the welfare of 9 crore Adivasis across the nation,” said Shah.
The BJP-ruled government in Gujarat has decided to provide irrigation facilities in 11 lakh acres of land owned by tribal people, he said, adding that as many as 137 tribal museums are under development in the state. “Two tribal universities are also shaping up in the state. Already three medical colleges have started at tribal-dominated Dahod, Valsad and Banaskantha districts. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has given permission for three more universities in another three tribal districts including Narmda, Tapi and Panchmahal,” he outlined.
The entire tribal belt is blessed with 24×7 electricity supply and almost 98% villages have been connected with the main roads in the past two decades, he claimed adding more than 16 lakh tribal students are getting scholarships in their bank accounts directly. Under ‘Dudh Sanjivani Yojana’, more than 11 lakh tribal children are getting free milk, he pointed out.
Of the total 182 Assembly seats, 27 seats are reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes. Of the 27 ST reserved assembly constituencies, 11 are situated in five districts that include three in Surat district, two in Tapi and Navsari district, three in Valsad district and one in Dang district. The Congress won more ST seats than the BJP in the 2017 Assembly but owing to defections from Congress ranks, the number of Congress and BJP MLAs now stand at 12.
Training his guns on the opposition Congress, Shah said that whenever Assembly or Parliamentary polls come, the opposition party starts putting hoardings with a claim of development of tribal areas. “How they (Congress) work for tribal people? They have not been in power since 1990 in Gujarat. Congress hasn’t done anything for the welfare of tribal people. Hence, please think twice before you vote and pick a party which has worked for you,” said the Home Minister.
Besides the BJP, the Congress and also the AAP have gone all out to woo the tribal voters with rallies in the tribal belt.
