Ranchi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged the people to vote for Geeta Koda in Chaibasa and Arjun Munda in Khunti. Incidentally, it is Munda’s birthday today. The PM wished him on the occasion and said “he is making exceptional efforts to improve the lives of tribal communities”.
Reserved for Scheduled Tribes, both Chaibasa and Khunti will go to polls on May 13. A sizeable portion of Khunti Lok Sabha constituency comes under West Singhbhum (Chaibasa) district.
Geeta Koda is wife of former CM Madhu Koda and was the lone Congress MP in the State. She switched over to the BJP just ahead of the polls. Despite the Modi wave, she was able to secure a victory in the constituency with a considerable Ho population. Arjun Munda, the Union Tribal Affairs Minister, is yet again locked in a tight contest. He had narrowly scraped through in 2019. The Congress’s Kalicharan Munda, who had given him a run for his money, is yet again pitted against him.
Addressing the rally, Modi said the ambitious flagship schemes of his government like Ayushman Bharat and Jan Dhan Yojana were launched in Jharkhand basically aimed at bringing the tribals at par with the well to do sections of the society.
Seeking to reach out to the tribals, Modi also highlighted that November 15, the birthday of tribal icon Birsa Munda, is now being celebrated nationally as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas to give due honour to the legend.
Modi also pointed out that his government launched a special drive against sickle cell anaemia even as he questioned if education was being imparted in native languages before his government came to power in 2014. Aren’t the Eklavya Vidyalayas doing a good job in tribal hinterlands?
He then went on reminding that a separate Jharkhand state was formed by the BJP-led Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and a separate tribal affairs ministry too became fully functional in his regime.
He cited how Droupadi Murmu was made the first tribal President of India. Incidentally, Murmu was earlier the Jharkhand Governor.
Indirectly targeting the JMM and jailed former CM Hemant Soren on the corruption front, Modi said that not to speak of small time politicians, even a former chief minister is faced with land scam and money laundering charges. Not content after plundering minerals resources, including sand and such other minor minerals or grabbing lands of poor tribals, they are now eyeing Army lands and such other plots meant for country’s security. He went on adding that the JMM has now joined hands with the RJD that had earlier left no stone unturned to stall the Jharkhand statehood.
He sought to remind how over Rs 300 crore cash was recovered from the premises of Congress MP (Dhiraj Prasad Sahu). He alleged that a bunch of liquor, sand, minerals and land mafiosi was trying all possible means to somehow grab power at the Centre.
He raked up the Muslim reservation too, asserting he will never let the Congress grant reservations to Muslims or other minority communities on the basis of religion. The reservations available to SCs, STs and OBCs in tune with Constitutional provisions made by B.R. Ambedkar will always remain untampered.
Later in the evening, Modi staged a road show in Ranchi. On Saturday, he will be addressing election meetings in Palamu ( Daltonganj/Medini Nagar) and Sisai (Gumla in Lohardaga Lok Sabha constituency also very close to Khunti), where polling will be on May 13.
On his whirlwind election campaigning, Modi also held rallies in Bardhaman, Krishnanagar and Bolpur in West Bengal during the day.
