Priyanka promises reforms for tribals in biodiversity-rich areas of Chhattisgarh
Making a pitch for tribal votes in Chhattisgarh, senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday alleged that attempts were being made to muzzle the anti-mining movement in the Hasdeo Aranya region, even as she promised reforms for tribals if her party returned to power at the Centre.
Mining and related deforestation has been a contentious issue in the biodiversity-rich areas in tribal-dominant Chhattisgarh. Resumption of mining in recent months have resulted in protests, and triggered a political blame game between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Speaking at a rally in the mining town of Chirmiri, a part of the Korba Lok Sabha constituency, Ms. Vadra alleged that resources were being handed over to industrlaists
in Hasdeo but the tribals were getting nothing.
“Today, your protest site is being burnt,” she said, referring to a recent case of arson in which unidentied individuals allegedly set the protest site of the Hasdeo Aranya Jungle Bachao Andolan in Surguja ablaze.
“Your trees are being cut, more than 15,000 trees have been cut. Because trees are being cut, elephant attacks [man-animal con¤ict] have been more frequent. Your environment is being destroyed. Which ever big industrialist is coming here is getting whatever he needs, be it land or mines, but you do not get it,” she added.
In her speech, Ms. Vadra also highlighted the Congress “guarantees” for the welfare and empowerment of the tribal communities.
“We want to implement the Forest Rights Act (FRA), this is our guarantee. There will be a specic budget and plan setting aside money for work that can be done for you. The amendments that these people have made in the land acquisition law, which are mostly weakening you, we will remove those amendments,” she said.
Rally in M.P.’s Morena
Later addressing a rally in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, Ms. Vadra said, her father and former PM Rajiv Gandhi
did not inherit wealth but the sense of martyrdom from his mother and ex-PM Indira Gandhi. "Modiji cannot understand the sense of martyrdom," she said as she refuted the Prime Minister’s allegations that Rajiv Gandhi had axed the inheritance law when he became PM to avoid paying tax.
Morena is part of the Gwalior-Chambal region in M.P. that sees many youth joining the forces.
“How do I explain (to myself) when Modiji calls my father a traitor, when Modiji says that my father changed some law to get the inheritance from her mother? Modiji will not understand that my father did not get money and wealth but shahadat ki bhavna (feeling of martyrdom) as inheritance. You can understand this as you have sent your sons to the border and they attain martyrdom for this country,” Ms. Vadra said.