PM Modi 'failed' to protect rights of tribals in Chhattisgarh: Congress

The Congress on Monday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to protect the rights of tribal communities in Chhattisgarh and asked whether he will ever meaningfully commit himself to tribal welfareCongress general secretary Jairam Ramesh posed questions to Prime Minister Modi ahead of his rally in BastarThe dealings of the BJP here Bastar have shown that their friendship with corporate cronies runs much deeper than their sense of duty to the people he saidWe hope that the PM can shed some light on why he has failed to protect the rights of tribal communities in the state Ramesh saidHe claimed that the dense biodiversityrich Hasdeo Aranya forest considered the lungs of the state are under threat from the BJP and their favourite crony Adani EnterprisesWhen the Congress Party was in power we had 40 coal blocks in this forest cancelled by the Union Coal Ministry to protect the sacred forest Since the BJP has returned they have reversed this decision and restarted mining in the Adaniowned Parsa coal block despite fierce protests from Adivasi groups and activists he allegesLeaders of the protest point out that the destruction of Hasdeo Aranya would cause irreparable damage to the Adivasi communities livelihood as well as severe damage to the environment and to wildlife with a possible worsening of humanelephant conflict he saidHow can the PM and the BJP so callously jeopardise the wellbeing of the Adivasi communities of Chhattisgarh Ramesh askedHe said PM Modi dedicated the Nagarnar Steel Plant conceptualised and initiated by the Manmohan Singh government to the public in October last year with much fanfareThe people of Bastar hoped that this mammoth Rs 23800 crore plant would bring major impetus to the development of Bastar and create thousands of opportunities for local youth In reality the BJP government has been planning to privatise this plant since 2020 when they decided to sell a majority stake of 507937 to their cronies he saidIn the lead up to Assembly elections last year Home Minister Amit Shah came to Bastar and promised that the plant will not be privatised but the fact is that the BJP government is yet to provide concrete assurances to validate this claim he saidCan the BJP show any proof that it never intended to and never will sell this steel plant to their corporate friends Ramesh askedIn 2006 the decadeslong struggle of Indias tribal communities came to an end when the Congress government introduced the historic Forest Rights Act he assertedThis act grants marginal and tribal communities a path to assert their rights over the forest land on which they have been traditionally dependent Last year when PM Modi introduced the Forest Conservation Amendment Act all of this progress was undone he claimedRamesh further claimed that that the new Act undermines the Forest Rights Act of 2006 doing away with provisions for the consent of local communities and other statutory requirements for forest clearance in vast areasThe intention of course is to hand over access to our forests to the Prime Ministers corporate friends he allegedWill the PM ever stop paying lip service to the slogan of JalJangalZameen and meaningfully commit himself to Adivasi welfare Ramesh said and asked Prime Minister Modi to break his silence on these issuesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever