Rahul Gandhi accuses BJP of making Adivasis homeless as yatra enters Maharashtra

Rahul Gandhi criticizes BJP for taking tribal resources, promises development and empowerment for Adivasis in Congress manifesto.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of taking away “jal, jangle, and jamin” (water, forests, and land) from tribals and transferring them to two corporate entities, making the Adivasis homeless.

He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for granting a loan waiver of ₹16 lakh crore to 22 industrialists while no relief has been provided for tribals, Dalits, and the poor. The amount was equivalent to the outlay for MGNREGS (rural employment scheme) for 24 years, as in one year, ₹65,000 crore is spent on the scheme, he said.

Speaking in the tribal-dominated Nandurbar district as his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra entered Maharashtra in its last leg, the Wayanad MP noted that tribals constituted 8% of the country’s population and vowed that Congress would their proportionate stake in the development.

“Our party’s government would carry out a caste census and an economic and financial survey, and also strengthen the Forest Rights Act that was ‘weakened’ under the BJP regime,” he promised.

The Congress leader pledged that his party’s government would include villages with over 50% tribal population in the ‘sixth schedule’ of the Constitution, preventing local decisions without tribal consent. “You (tribals) are the real owners of the country. Once we come to power, the Congress will carry out a caste census, followed by an economic and financial survey across the country. It will be a revolutionary step. We will have the exact data of each caste and its representation in the population,” he said, promising to introduce legislation to provide guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farm and forest produce.

In Delhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, accompanied by general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal and other senior leaders, announced six guarantees for Adivasis.

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