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Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the ruling JMM with the Congress and RJD had conspired to alter Jharkhand’s demography for their vote bank
PM Narendra Modi addresses a public rally in Jharkhand’s Chaibasa on November 4. (Image: ANI)
The Congress will scrap reservation for tribals and hand it over to their vote bank, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, while launching a blistering attack on the opposition in poll-bound Jharkhand during his public rally in Chaibasa.
Modi said the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) with the Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had conspired to alter the state’s demography for their vote bank. If voted to power, the BJP will bring stringent legislation to return land grabbed by infiltrators, he said.
“The JMM, Congress, RJD have changed Jharkhand’s demography, allowing illegal infiltrators to settle in Jharkhand. JMM-RJD-Congress supports illegal immigrants for vote bank politics. They will take away tribal reservation and give it to their vote bank,” he said in his speech after he was felicitated by former chief minister Champai Soren and other BJP leaders.
He said Jharkhand has been a witness to tribal pride and dignity, and to tribal bravery that has protected India’s independence, culture and heritage. But, the opposition parties were “anti-tribal” and did not respect them; in fact, the JMM had disrespected Champai Soren — “the son and pride of Kolhan”, he said.
“The Congress government gunned down tribals here. History is witness to how Kolhan posed a challenge to the tyrant English forces. Today, once again, Kolhan has decided to uproot the tyrant government of JMM-Congress-RJD. The RJD and Congress are the biggest enemies of the tribals. The JMM are supporting those who opposed the formation of Jharkhand,” he added.
PM’s Speech Focuses On Tribals
Modi’s speech was mainly focused on the tribals, and came a day after the BJP released its election manifesto for the Jharkhand assembly elections. The party has promised that tribal communities will be excluded from the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), clearing the air over long-time concerns of the law’s impact on these backward communities.
On Sunday (November 3), sharing the ‘Sankalp Patra’ during his speech at a public rally in Ranchi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said: “Our government will introduce UCC in Jharkhand but tribals will be kept out of its ambit. The JMM government is making false propaganda that UCC will impact tribal rights and culture, which is totally baseless as they will be kept out of its ambit.”
The razor-sharp focus on the tribals is due to the BJP’s loss in all seats reserved for the scheduled tribes (ST) in Jharkhand during the recently held Lok Sabha polls. But, the PM sounded confident that the state will script history this time with the saffron party winning the highest number of seats.
“The BJP has made a tribal CM in Odisha; in Chhattisgarh, too, there is a tribal CM. The Congress opposed Droupadi Murmu’s candidature as President, but the NDA gave India its first tribal president,” he said at the rally.
He also accused the Congress and RJD of committing “barbaric crimes” on tribals in Jharkhand. “In the 1980s, when the Congress was in power both in Bihar and Delhi and Jharkhand was part of Bihar back then – Guwa Goli Kaand happened – the kind of barbarism the Britishers have committed here, the Congress did the same with the blood of tribals… RJD leaders used to say that Jharkhand will be formed over their corpses…” he added.
(With PTI inputs)
- Location :
Jharkhand, India
