Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said people must not make the mistake of voting for “urban Naxals” and asserted that the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are “anti-tribals”.
Addressing a rally in Gujarat’s Bharuch Lok Sabha constituency, where the AAP has fielded a candidate as part of its alliance with the Congress, he urged the people to vote for BJP’s sitting MP Mansukh Vasava.
“You will never get a public representative like Manuskh Vasava. If you make a mistake, then some urban Naxal will take his place (as MP) and destroy this tribal region,” Mr Shah said.
Mansukh Vasava is pitted against the AAP’s sitting MLA Chaitar Vasava in Bharuch, which is part of south Gujarat, which has a sizeable presence of tribals.
“The Congress and AAP have come together to loot people. I have no hesitation in saying the Congress is an anti-tribal party and AAP will exploit tribals after getting their votes,” Mr Shah asserted.
The Congress and AAP are spreading rumours that the BJP will change the Constitution and scrap reservation after it wins 400 Lok Sabha seats, he said, adding the grand old party is an “expert” and the Arvind Kejriwal-led party a “sardar” (chieftain) in spreading lies.
“These two liars have come together (as part of the INDIA bloc) in Bharuch,” Mr Shah said and pointed out that the Narendra Modi government has been in power for the past 10 years with a clear majority and could have changed the Constitution if it had any intention to do so.
“I am here to tell you Modi’s guarantee is that he will neither touch reservations for Adivasis, Dalits or OBCs nor will he allow anyone to touch it,” Mr Shah said.
The Congress and AAP are spreading lies that the proposed Uniform Civil Code (UCC) will take away the fundamental rights of tribals, Mr Shah further claimed.
“I have seen the UCC bill, and it says UCC does not apply to the tribals. They (Congress and AAP) are spreading lies. I would like to tell thousands of tribals sitting here that Chaitar Vasava (AAP candidate) and company are spreading lies. Do not fall for their words because Modi is a friend of Adivasis,” the BJP stalwart said.
The number of Eklavya schools (residential schools for tribals) have risen from 90 under the Congress-led UPA rule to 740 now, while a district mineral fund has been set up with a corpus of Rs 75,000 crore to take care of water, education, health and nutrition needs of tribals, Mr Shah said.
Attacking the Congress on the Ram Temple issue, the BJP leader said, “We invited Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge (for the idol consecration of the Ram Temple on January 22) but they were concerned about their vote bank.”
Will Bharuch support those who do not participate in Lord Ram’s idol consecration, Mr Shah asked.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
