'They Didn't Care About Tribals, Only We Can Ensure Security & Prosperity': Shah Slams Congress In MP's Chhindwara

Union minister Amit Shah claimed that former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath did nothing for the people between December 2018 and March 2020.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah

Source : PTI

Union Minister Amit Shah attacked the Congress on Saturday for its treatment of tribals and the oppressed, claiming that only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) can offer security and prosperity to the country while also ensuring the care of the underprivileged.

Addressing at a rally in Chhindwara, a stronghold of Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath for nearly 50 years, Shah urged people to vote overwhelmingly for the BJP in the state's Assembly elections later this year.

Taking aim at Nath, the union minister claimed the former accomplished nothing for the people of the state between December 2018 and March 2020.

"Previous Congress governments did not care about tribals, the poor, or those from the other backward classes. Only the BJP can ensure security, prosperity, and the well-being of the poor. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is concerned about tribals, whom the Congress has ignored for years," Shah was quoted as saying by the news agency PTI.

"A woman from the tribal community is now the President of India as a result of Prime Minister Modi's efforts," he said, referring to President Droupadi Murmu.

The Prime Minister also declared November 15 as 'Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas,' commemorating the birth anniversary of legendary tribal leader Birsa Munda. Tribal communities account for 35-40 per cent of the people in the Chhindwara region.

On August 5, 2019, the Narendra Modi government repealed provisions of Article 370 that granted Jammu and Kashmir special status, while the Congress dragged its feet on the issue for years, he said.

"During the last nine years of the NDA's rule, seven crore citizens had bank accounts opened, 13 crore people received gas cylinders, and 10 crore families had toilets built in their homes. More than 60 crore people benefited from the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, which has a 5 lakh coverage limit," according to the Union Minister.

Kamal Nath, MP Congress president and former chief minister, was initially elected to the Lok Sabha from Chhindwara in 1980 and has since repeated the feat multiple times, with his lone defeat being in a by-election in 1997.

The BJP won 28 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in MP in 2019, including that of then-Congress heavyweight Jyotiraditya Scindia, but Chhindwara remained out of reach, with Nath's son Nakul Nath winning by more than 35,000 votes.