BJP Chose Droupadi Murmu Only To Gain Tribal Votes: Activist Medha Patkar
NDTV
Medha Patkar also raised doubts about how much Droupadi Murmu, if elected the country's next President, would be able to work for the rights of the tribal and Dalit communities.
Social activist Medha Patkar believes that the BJP has fielded tribal leader Droupadi Murmu as the NDA's presidential candidate only because the community forms a major part of the vote bank but the party is not pro-Adivasi.
Wondering what could Ms Murmu who could not bring electricity to her native village, or Yashwant Sinha, the Presidential nominee of major opposition parties and an economist, could do after being elected, Ms Patkar claimed that a President becomes the rubber stamp of the ruling party.
"They (the BJP) want a tribal person like her and celebrate Birsa Munda Jayanti because they know that Adivasis form a major part of the vote bank in several states like Madhya Pradesh. They cannot claim to be pro-Advasi by not granting them forest rights and planning to hand over forests to the corporates," Ms Patkar told PTI in a telephone interview.
Referring to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bhopal, the capital of MP, to celebrate the birth anniversary of revered tribal leader and freedom fighter Birsa Munda in November last year, she claimed that there were incidents of violence against tribal people at that time.
