Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.(Image: News18)
Forests are shrinking and after 15 years the BJP will ask ’vanvasis’ to go to cities and beg, Gandhi claimed
The Bharatiya Janata Party brought down the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh using money power, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Friday. The Congress government under Nath, which came to power after the Assembly polls in 2018, collapsed in March 2020 following a revolt by several MLAs loyal to Jyotiraditya Scindia.
It paved the way for the return of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister, while the rebel MLAs and Scindia joined the BJP. Addressing a rally in Rajpur in Barwani, Gandhi said, ”We had promised to waive farm loans in the last assembly polls. We wrote off loans of 25 lakh farmers but the BJP and their big industrialist friends stole your government by giving money to legislators.” Slamming the BJP further, he said the ruling party refers to tribals as ’vanvasi’ or forest-dwellers, while the correct term is Adivasi or original inhabitants, which the Congress uses.
Forests are shrinking and after 15 years the BJP will ask ’vanvasis’ to go to cities and beg, Gandhi claimed. Mentioning the Sidhi case, which hit national headlines and caused immense outrage across the nation, Gandhi said, ”Have you seen any BJP leader urinating on an animal? But a BJP leader urinated on the face of a tribal man, shot a video and made it viral. They are shameless. Their thinking is hidden in this video.” While the Congress wants children from tribal communities to become doctors, engineers, lawyers and industrialists, the BJP wants to keep them away from English education, Gandhi claimed.
”The BJP leaders want their sons and daughters to study English but they want tribals to stay away,” Gandhi said while mentioning several jobs where English is required. The Congress will conduct a caste census after coming to power in MP so that the exact number of OBCs, SCs, STs can be known and benefits can be given accordingly, he said.
Hailing the Congress government in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Gandhi said the paddy MSP there was Rs 3200 per quintal and labourers get Rs 10,000 (under a welfare scheme). ”If farmers and labourers get money, they will spend it in villages and towns. This will strengthen the local economy. This has been done in Chhattisgarh,” he told the gathering.
Gandhi said due to good governance and such measures, farmers were not committing suicide in Chhattisgarh, while they were ending their lives in BJP-ruled MP. Big industrialists are not happy in Chhattisgarh but farmers, youth, labourers and small businessmen are happy, Gandhi said.
Gandhi, while alleging that the MP government was taking 50 per cent ”cut”, spoke about the purported video of the son of a Union minister in which transactions worth several crore rupees and bank accounts are mentioned. ”A video having monetary transactions of (Union minister) Narendra Singh Tomar’s son Devendra Tomar has surfaced, but has the ED, CBI or Income Tax department reached his doorstep,” Gandhi asked.
Devendra Tomar has claimed the video is fake and has got an FIR registered against unidentified persons. Citing Vyapam recruitment scam, Gandhi claimed the MP government was topping the list in the country when it came to corruption.
While the BJP spreads hatred between castes and religions, he runs a ”mohabbat ki dukaan” (shop of love) which wants all sections of society, including Dalits, OBCs and tribals, to get justice, Gandhi claimed. Gandhi said the Narendra Modi government had waived loans of Rs 14 lakh crore of four to five industrialists, and banks deny loans to the common citizen but roll out the red carpet for ”Adani and other industrialists”.
”This is not Hindustan of two-three people. There should be participation of all,” he said. Claiming the country was reeling under rampant unemployment, Gandhi said BJP governments in the states and at the Centre were shutting down small units and businesses, which used to provide jobs to the youth.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)