Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | 'Modi calls you Vanvasi': Rahul Gandhi hits out at PM over tribal issues in Nandurbar

Nandurbar/Mumbai: From the tribal belt of Nandurbar - which is closely connected to the Gandhi-family, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on RSS-BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for calling the ‘Adivasi’ as ‘Vanvasi’.

Former Prime Ministers - Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi as well as the latter's wife and former Congress President Sonia Gandhi used to launch the Congress party’s campaign in Maharashtra from the tribal Nandurbar belt. 

Back in 1998, Sonia Gandhi chose her own political coming-out by addressing a mammoth rally in Nandurbar, where she declared that she would not assume any post of power.

When the Congress-led UPA government was in power, the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi (UPA Chairperson at that time), chose Tembhli village in Nandurbar for the Unique Identification Authority of India’s launch of the Aadhaar Card programme on September 29, 2010, and the first person was given an Aadhaar identity number.

Displaying the red-colour pocket-size Constitution, Gandhi said that the Constitution of India reflects the ideals of Birsa Munda, who laid down his life for freedom struggle fighting the Britishers. 

“Birsa Munda fought against the Britishers…today RSS and BJP is there…Modi calls you ‘Vanvasi’ and not ‘Adivasi’,” the Congress leader said. 

“Both are different…Adivasi are original inhabitants while Vanvasi are mere forest dwellers…Adivasi have right over jal, jangal, jameen (water, forest and land)…whereas Vanvasi has no such right,” said Gandhi.

“Tribal means the first owners, the original ‘malik’ of the land ...if the tribals were the first owners of India then they should get the first participation...forest dweller means the one who lives in the forest... BJP calls you a forest dweller, not tribal. They changed your name because they don't want to give you rights,” he said.

The Leader of the Opposition said that it was Congress which enacted the  Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (or PESA), 1996 and The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, popularly known as the Forest Rights Act. 

Gandhi also said that a caste census would help in bringing about more participation of the tribal community in the decision making. 

Maharashtra has 25 constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribes in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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