Clubbed with 'BIMARU' states during Cong rule, MP became 'bemisal' under BJP: Amit Shah

Mandla (MP): Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah on Tuesday accused the Congress of resorting to minority appeasement and said the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in contrast focuses on the welfare of tribals, Dalits, the poor and backward classes.

He said Madhya Pradesh was counted among 'BIMARU' (laggard) states, when the Congress was in power, but under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule it has become a 'bemisal' (unmatched) state due to fast-paced development.

Shah, a key election strategist of the BJP, expressed confidence about the saffron outfit wining more than 150 seats out of the total 230 in the year-end assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.

He was addressing a public rally at a function organised to flag off the BJP's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' (March for People's Blessing), a mass-contact programme ahead of polls, in Mandla district in the Mahakaushal region.

Quoting former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement that minorities must have the first claim on resources, Shah said the Congress was too much into appeasement of minorities but the situation changed when Modi became the PM in 2014.

After becoming PM, Modi declared his government would work for the welfare of tribals, Dalits, the poor and backward classes who have the right on the country's resources, said the former BJP president.

"Now, you have to choose between these two ideologies", said the Union minister.

Shah said during nine years of the BJP rule at the Centre, the Modi government has worked for the poor and other marginalized sections of society.

He maintained the Congress only talked about tribals having rights on water, forests and land, but it was the BJP which bestowed these rights on adivasis.

“But Modi ji ensured the welfare of tribals by combining security, respect and inclusive development with water, forests and land,” said the Union minister.

The budget for tribal welfare has been increased to Rs 1.19 lakh crore by the Modi government from Rs 24,000 crore during the Manmohan Singh dispensation (2004-2014), he pointed out.

"The Congress ruled the country for years but did not make any tribal daughter President of the country.... PM Modi made Droupadi Murmu, who hailed from a poor family, the first tribal President," he said.

Praising Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Shah said his government has shown the path of tribal development to other states of the country.

Madhya Pradesh was the first state which implemented the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996, said the BJP leader, seeking to woo tribals who form a significant part of the population in MP.

The Act gives special powers to the gram sabhas in scheduled areas (most of them tribal dominated) especially for management of natural resources.

The Union home minister said after the Jan Ashirwad Yatra culminates in Bhopal on September 25 in the presence of PM Modi, it will lay for the foundation for the BJP to win more than 150 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh.

He hit out at the Congress over its past governance record in the state.

Shah said, “Mr Bantadhar Digvijaya Singh had left Madhya Pradesh as a BIMARU (laggard) state… but in 20 years, three Chief Ministers of the BJP, especially our Shivraj Singh Chauhan, have worked to make it a 'bemisal' (unmatched) state." The BJP had used the term "Mr Bantadhar" (Mr Ruination) for Singh, who was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for 10 years from 1993 in the campaign led by Uma Bharti during the 2003 assembly elections.

Shah said the Modi government included 23 castes in the list of scheduled tribes and declared legendary adivasi leader Birsa Munda's birth anniversary as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas.

The Union home minister said terrorist attacks were a routine affair during the Congress rule at the Centre but the BJP government eliminated them and carried out surgical strike on terror camps.

While citing several corruption charges against the Kamal Nath-led Congress government (December 2018-March 2020), Shah accused the erstwhile dispensation of closing down 51 public welfare schemes in the state.

The BJP is taking out 'Jan Ashirwad Yatras' from five different places in MP to connect with voters ahead of polls. These yatras will culminate on September 25 in Bhopal with a 'Karyakarta Mahakumbh' (mega gathering of workers). PM Modi is expected to address BJP workers in the state capital that day, party functionaries said earlier.

After his Mandla programme, Shah will head to Sheopur district in the Gwalior-Chambal region where he will address a public rally after inaugurating another 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra', according to a party spokesperson.