Ranchi
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday addressed election meetings in different parts of Chaibasa, Khunti and Lohardaga Lok Sabha constituencies — all reserved for Scheduled Tribes and where polling will be conducted on May 13.
Addressing the gatherings, Rahul held a copy of the Indian Constitution in hand and alleged that the BJP was conspiring to ‘eliminate’ constitutional provisions formulated by B.R. Ambedkar and abolish reservations.
He alleged that there was a move to drive out the tribals and hand over the forests to Adanis and the likes. “They call the Adivasis as Vanvasis. When there will be no Van (forests), where will the poor Vanvasis go. The tribals are the main owners of lands, forests and waters,” he asserted.
He claimed that the Congress was committed to safeguard the interests of tribals, whereas the BJP was ‘duty bound ‘ to serve the interests of a handful billionaires. The BJP, according to Rahul, has so far made only 22 billionaires, but the Congress has drawn an action plan to make millions of ‘lakhpatis’ (persons having at least Rs 1 lakh or 0.1 million in hand).
“When the INDIA bloc government will be formed, a fresh list of poor families will be prepared. An amount of Rs 8,500 will deposited every month in the bank accounts of a female member of each of the families. MGNREGA wages will be revised from Rs 250 to Rs Rs 400. The loans of farmers will be waived off,” he added.
He also promised that there be no contractual job appointments in any of the government offices or public sector undertakings. The reservation limit will be raised from the existing 50 percent so as to ensure due share to all sections of society, including minority communities.
The Congress has again fielded Kali Charan Munda in Khunti, who had given a tough fight to BJP heavyweight and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda in 2019. Both of them are in the fray once again.
In Lohardaga too, Congress has again fielded Sukhdeo Bhagat, who had given a good fight to BJP’s Sudarshan Bhagat in 2019. But this time, the BJP has replaced Sudarshan with its National ST Morcha head and Rajya Sabha MP Samir Oraon.
Though the Congress won the Ho-dominated Chaibasa seat in 2019 with a comfortable margin, its sitting MP Geeta Koda switched sides and is now in the fray as a BJP nominee. The Congress is supporting Joba Majhi of JMM in Chaibasa.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too had campaigned for his party candidates in these constituencies on Friday. Riding on the Modi wave, the BJP had won 12 of the 14 Lok Sabha seats in the State in 2019.
Rahul’s visit comes a day after, the ED sleuths raided the premises of close aides of Congress Legislature Party Leader and State’s Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam and reportedly seized cash amounts worth over Rs 35 Crore. The raids are still on in certain parts of the Jharkhand capital. The PM has himself led the attack against the Congress-led opposition on the recovery of the huge amount of cash.
