Bhopal: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that tribals were the original ‘owners’ of the land in the country and claimed that no individual from the community was among the promoters of the top 200 companies in the country nor part of their senior management.
He assured that if the Congress came to power, it would settle the indigenous people's claim on their land in just one year. He was campaigning in the tribal-dominated Mandla of Madhya Pradesh and Gandhi addressed a public meeting each in Mandla (ST) and Shahdol (ST) Lok Sabha constituencies, which are going to polls in the first phase.
“The Congress calls you all 'adivasi' but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP call you 'vanvasi'. These two terms connote two different ideologies,” the Congress leader asserted. “Adivasi means people who are the master of the land.”
Their motive is to to uproot them from their land and snatch their first right on the jal, jangal, jameen (water, forest and land). “They want to give their (tribals) land to industrialists,” he said.
Gandhi said the the Indira Gandhi government had given tribals land rights.
At Dhanora, which falls under Mandla (ST) seat, Gandhi said that Congress worked for the welfare of the poor, Dalits, farmers, and tribals.
Gandhi accused Prime Minister Modi of working in the interests of only a few rich people in the country.
He exuded confidence on winning the Lok Sabha elections and said the new government will transfer '1 lakh annually into accounts of women belonging to SC, ST, and backward categories. He also assured to provide guaranteed apprenticeships to unemployed youths.
“Our manifesto mentions three to four revolutionary steps taken by us like transferring Rs 1 lakh into (bank) accounts of women belonging to SC and ST categories, backward classes, and for women from poor families. This way we will provide thousands of rupees in their accounts every month,” he said.
He pledged that Congress would provide legal protection to the minimum support price (MSP) for different crops if the party staged a comeback to power at the Centre. Gandhi also promised to abolish the Agniveer scheme if Congress formed the government at the Centre.
Earlier, a banner at the venue of his public meeting featured the local BJP candidate. The goof-up was noticed by some party members a couple of hours before Gandhi’s arrival, prompting them to cover the photograph of the Union minister with that of the local Congress MLA Rajneesh Harvansh Singh, a senior Congress functionary said here, requesting not to be quoted.
Congress spokesman K.K. Mishra dismissed it as a ‘human error’. The BJP has made it a habit to politicise every issue even if it is a human error. We can't say anything about such habits of the BJP,” he said.
Gandhi was forced to stay back in a private hotel in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh after concluding his day’s tour to the state when his helicopter could not take off due to fuel shortage.
“Fuel is being arranged from Jabalpur in the state. Gandhi cannot go to Jabalpur by road (to catch a flight to Delhi) for security reasons. He may have to spend the night in Shahdol,” Shahdol district collector Prateek Kumar said.
State Congress president Jitu Patwari said that Gandhi would stay back in Shahdol for the night at a private hotel, Surya International, and leave for Delhi from Jabalpur on Tuesday morning.
In a post on X later, Gandhi claimed that Prime Minister Modi had waived Rs 16 lakh crore of a few billionaires in one go. “With this much money, a revolutionary scheme like MGNREGA could have been run for 24 years. Those who ask where the money will come from for Congress' schemes, they hide these figures from you,” the former Congress chief said.
“Enough of 'kindness towards friends', now is the time to open the government's coffers for the common people,” he said.
