Madhya Pradesh Assembly Election 2023: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken a jibe at the Congress party saying that they always belittled the tribal people in the state and never respected their leaders. CM Chouhan made the remark while speaking to media in the state capital Bhopal today (October 14).
"Congress has always belittled the tribal people. It is the Congress that has never respected tribal leaders. Be it Tantya Mama, Bhima Nayak, Raghunath Shah, Shankar Shah, Rani Durgawati or Birsa Bhagwan, we are building their memorials but the Congress made memorials of people from only one family," CM Chouhan said.
He further claimed that it was Congress who stopped the scheme of depositing a monthly aid of Rs 1,000 in the account of backward tribal women belonging to Baiga, Bharia and Sahira tribes.
"We had been depositing Rs 1,000 a month in the account of tribal women belonging to Baiga, Bharia and Sahira tribes from 2017, but this was stopped by Congress after they came in power in 2018. They (Congress) stopped the Sambal scheme," the CM said.CM Chouhan also said he would give respect and provide facilities to the tribal people.
"Former CM Kamal Nath and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi should listen that we will respect and provide facilities to tribal people. They (tribal and poor) reside in my heart," the chief minister said.
He added that the they (Congress) party also probably decided to stop the 'Mukhyamantri Ladli Behna scheme' and tweets were being made that Mama (referring to himself) would deposit money secretly. Yes, he would deposit. It was an ongoing scheme. It couldn't be stopped. It was beneficial to 1.32 crore women.
"Congress's intention has become clear that the way they stopped sambal yojana, monthly aid scheme of tribal women and others schemes, now they are preparing to stop the Ladli Bahna Yojana. I want to warn the women of Madhya Pradesh to see how their (Congress) intentions are. They (Congress) are anti-women, anti-poor and also anti-tribal. The public needs to be careful," the CM said.
Congress hit back:
Congress spokesperson Abbas Hafeez hit back on CM Chouhan's remark saying that the tribal community also knew very well that BJP is anti-tribal.
"The Congress Party has always kept the tribals as partners in the government and the organisation. Madhya Pradesh has had two Deputy Chief Ministers from the tribal community in its history and both from the Congress Party (Jamuna Devi and Shivbhanu Solankhi). The tribal community also knows very well that BJP is anti-tribal," Hafeez said.
The entire Madhya Pradesh is witnessing the fact that BJP leaders sometimes urinate on tribal and sometimes fire bullets, he added. Reacting to CM Chouhan's allegation that the Congress was preparing to stop Ladli Bahna Yojana, the Congress leader said, "CM Chouhan is making such allegations due to fear of defeat in the forthcoming assembly polls. Kamal Nath's new government will bring the best schemes for every section of Madhya Pradesh in which there will be no corruption like the BJP."
Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to undergo assembly polls on November 17 (Friday). Through the polls, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies. The election would be conducted in one phase in the state and the counting would be done on December 3 (Sunday).
(With ANI inputs)
ALSO READ: Madhya Pradesh polls: First list of Congress candidates to release on Oct 15, says Kamal NathALSO READ: Mallikarjun Kharge chairs CEC meeting to finalise candidates for Madhya Pradesh Assembly election
