Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which tried to give people from the tribal communities their dues of which they were deprived of in previous governments.
PM Modi was addressing a gathering in the Jamui district of Bihar bordering Jharkhand on the 150th birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter Birsa Munda, which was marked by the launch of tribal welfare projects worth more than ₹6,000 crore.
PM Modi said that his government took the decision to celebrate Munda’s birth anniversary as ‘Janjaatiya Gaurav Divas’ (the day of glory for tribals) undoing the injustice to them by previous governments.
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Without naming any previous governments nor parties’, PM Modi said they were responsible in wiping out the contribution of the people from the tribal communities in India’s freedom movement.
“The tribals did not get their due despite their enormous contribution and an attempt was made to wipe it up to propagate that one party and one family was only responsible for India’s freedom. If it were so, what were the Munda movement, Santhalia movement, Hol revolution and several other tribal movements all about? How can we forget their contribution? Chhatrapati Shivaji also drew strength from tribals,” he added.
The prime minister also inaugurated and laid foundation stone for several development projects, related to education, health, infrastructure, housing, worth over ₹6,640 crore and released commemorative stamp and coins.
He also inaugurated two Tribal Freedom Fighters’ Museums and two Tribal Research Institutes to preserve the rich history of tribal communities.
“The bravery, sacrifices, and contributions of tribal freedom fighters who played a pivotal role in India’s struggle for independence is unforgettable and the future generations must cherish it. Our government has also conferred Padma awards on them and taken a lot of steps to preserve their culture and legacy. The standard set by the NDA government for tribal development and welfare is different. It was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government which first formed a tribal ministry and gave a dedicated budget,” he added.
The PM also thanked state chief minister Nitish Kumar, also present on the occasion, for supporting and appealing to other parties when Droupadi Murmu was made the presidential candidate by the BJP-led NDA.
for offering “full support” when “a tribal woman” Droupadi Murmu was made the presidential candidate by the BJP-led NDA.
“She has been behind a lot of tribal welfare schemes since her days as Jharkhand Governor and she often discussed with me the need to work for the extremely backward tribal communities. Earlier governments never cared for tribal uplift,” he added.
PM also spoke about the rise in budget allocation for the tribal communities from the earlier ₹25,000 crore to ₹1,25,000 crore.
“Modi works for those who were not on anyone’s priority and remained deprived for far too long. We made tribal districts aspirations, put the best officers on job and they are today doing better than many other districts,” he added.