Jhabua/New Delhi
Though he claimed that he had not come to Jhabua for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, nevertheless, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sounded the poll bugle as he minced no words in seeking votes from the tribal community.
“I have come to Jhabua not to campaign for the Lok Sabha elections but as your sevak,” the Prime Minister said adding, “Our double engine government is working with double speed in Madhya Pradesh”.
Addressing the Janjatiya Mahasabha, PM Modi asked the voters to ensure the polling of additional 370 votes in each booth, compared to the last elections, for the BJP to win 370 Lok Sabha seats.
Even the opposition leaders in Parliament are now saying “abki baar 400 paar” for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he said adding BJP’s ‘lotus’ symbol will bag more than 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The number 370 is a reference to the historic decision of Abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu & Kashmir.
While he asserted that his government is working for the welfare of tribals, he attacked the opposition Congress alleging it remembers villages, poor people and farmers only during elections.
On his first visit to the State following the emphatic victory in Assembly polls last year, Modi said “We started a campaign against sickle cell anemia not for votes, but for the health of tribals. The Congress remembers villages, the poor and farmers only during elections.”
He claimed that aware of their imminent defeat, the Congress and its allies were resorting to last ditch-tactics. He also alleged that “loot and divide” is the motto of the Congress.
From the tribal-dominated Jhabua, Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of various developmental projects worth Rs 7,500 crore in the presence of Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
Among others, he disbursed the monthly instalment of the Aahar Anudan Yojana to about two lakh women beneficiaries, under which Rs 1,500 per month is provided for nutritious food to women of various especially backward tribes of Madhya Pradesh.
He distributed 1.75 lakh ‘adhikar abhilekh’ (record of rights) to beneficiaries of SVAMITVA Scheme, which will provide documentary evidence to people for the right to their land.
The PM also laid the foundation stone of Tantya Mama Bhil University – a dedicated university which will cater to the youth from districts with high tribal concentration in the region. To be developed at a cost of Rs 170 crore, the university will provide world class infrastructure for holistic development of students.
PM Modi further transferred funds of Rs 55.9 crore for 559 villages under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, which will be utilised for various kinds of construction activities, including Anganwadi Bhawans, fair price shops, health centres, additional rooms in schools, internal roads, among others.
He laid the foundation stone of ‘CM Rise School’ in Jhabua, ‘Talavada Project’, which is a drinking water supply scheme for more than 1,000 villages of Dhar and Ratlam and 14 urban water supply schemes under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, benefitting more than 50,000 urban households across multiple districts of Madhya Pradesh.
He dedicated to the nation ‘Nal Jal Yojana’ for 50 gram panchayats of Jhabua, which will provide tap water to about 11,000 households and also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple rail projects during the programme.
Modi also dedicated to the nation multiple road development projects worth more than Rs 3,275 crore in Madhya Pradesh besides laying the foundation stone of other development initiatives like waste dumpsite remediation, electric substation, among others.
