Congress focuses on minority appeasement, Modi on welfare of tribals, Dalits and poor: Shah in M.P.

People of MP must choose b/w Cong's ideology of minority appeasement & BJP's of tribal, backward classes, Dalits & poor welfare. Modi govt increased tribal welfare budget to ₹1.19 lakh cr from ₹24,000 cr during Manmohan Singh govt. BJP to win 150 seats in MP polls, says Shah.

Attacking the Indian National Congress in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that the people would have to choose between the ideology of minority appeasement versus one that worked for tribal communities, backward classes, Dalits and the poor. 

Inaugurating the third of the five Jan Aashirwads Yatras, a pre-election outreach programme in Mandla – a key tribal belt within the Mahakoshal region, Mr. Shah referred to a 17-year-old speech by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he sought to draw a distinction between the current dispensation led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. 

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“I have come to tell all the brothers and sisters from the tribal society in Madhya Pradesh. There was a United Progressive Alliance government, a Congress government, a government of [former CM] Kamal Nath and bantadhar [meaning Demolished, used here as reference to former CM Digvijaya Singh] had government at the Centre. Manmohan Singh was the PM, he made a statement… he said that minorities have the first claim on the country’s treasury. Everyone protested, but he did not agree,” he said. 

Mr. Shah went on to claim that the previous Congress government remained engrossed in minority appeasement but things changed after 2014 when Mr. Modi entered the scene.  

“On the one hand, the Congress party claims that minorities have the right over the country’s treasury and on the other hand, the country’s PM and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Narendra Modiji says that the tribals and the poor have a right to the country’s treasury,” added the Home Minister. 

The budget for tribal welfare has been increased to ₹1.19 lakh crore by the Modi government from ₹24,000 crore during the Manmohan Singh government, the Home Minister stated.