The upcoming Lok Sabha election is between two ideologies of those working for a select few billionaires and the other for the poor, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on April 8 as he kickstarted the party’s campaign in Madhya Pradesh’s tribal-dominated Mahakoshal region.
“The election is about two ideologies. On one side is [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi ji who works for two-three billionaires of India, while on the other side is the Congress party that works for the poor, farmers, Dalits, tribals and backward class people,” Mr. Gandhi said at a poll rally in Seoni district under Mandla Lok Sabha constituency.
This was Mr. Gandhi’s first visit to the State after the announcement of election dates. Later in the day, Mr. Gandhi also addressed a rally in Shahdol Lok Sabha segment. Following the rally, the Congress said Mr. Gandhi would stay overnight in Shahdol as his helicopter could not take off due to bad weather.
In his speeches at both places, Mr. Gandhi informed the gatherings about various promises made in the recently-launched manifesto of the Congress, such as filling up the nearly 30 lakh vacancies at various levels in the Union government, providing ₹1 lakh per year to every poor family under Mahalakshmi scheme, abolishing the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, giving one-year apprenticeship to youth, and ensuring legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP) for farmers.
Sixth Schedule status mooted
Targeting the tribal voters of the region, Mr. Gandhi also promised to implement the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in districts with more than 50% tribal population, if the Congress came to power at the Centre. The Sixth Schedule provides for the administration of tribal areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
“So, we have decided that Adivasis will not be administered from Delhi or from [State capital] Bhopal but they will run their local government in their area. They will decide whatever they want,” he said, adding that all pending land claims under forest rights will be resolved within one year.
Mr. Gandhi also said that his party, if it comes to power, will double the money given as scholarship to the students coming from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities.
Referring to the infamous Sidhi urination incident, Mr. Gandhi also accused the BJP of insulting the tribal community. Last year in July, a person alleged to be from the BJP had urinated on a tribal man in Sidhi district and a video of the incident had gone viral.
Hitting out at the BJP-led Union government over the Agnipath scheme, Mr. Gandhi also claimed that Army soldiers with six-month training will not stand a chance against the Chinese Army soldiers who receive training for five years.
“They will take four youth and train them for six months. The Chinese soldier will come with five-year training. You can imagine the result. And when our boy will get martyred, they will not give him the martyr status as you are an Agniveer,” Mr. Gandhi pointed out, claiming that soldiers from enemy nations will mock the Agniveers as they will not get pension, canteen benefits and martyr status.
‘Army is against Agnipath’
Claiming that the armed forces themselves do not like the Agnipath scheme, Mr. Gandhi said: “The decision to make this scheme was taken from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The Army is against it. If the Army wanted the scheme, I would have never talked about abolishing it”.
Earlier in the day, various BJP leaders, including State Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, took a swipe at the Congress after pictures surfaced on social media showing a photo of Union Minister and BJP candidate from Mandla, Faggan Singh Kulaste put up at the stage in Seoni. The photo was later covered.
“It is quite surprising how Congress and its workers make fun of themselves. This shows how serious they are. It seems that they have already accepted defeat,” said Mr. Yadav.
From Mandla, Mr. Kulaste is again in fray on a BJP ticket. He had, however, recently lost the Assembly election from Niwas seat under his Lok Sabha constituency. The Congress has fielded prominent tribal leader Omkar Singh Markam, who had contested from the seat in 2014 but lost to Mr. Kulaste.
The BJP has also repeated MP Himadri Singh from Shahdol while the Congress has fielded Phundelal Singh Marko, MLA from Pushprajgarh (ST) seat in Anuppur district in the Lok Sabha segment.
Mandla, Shahdol, Sidhi, Chhindwara, Balaghat, and Jabalpur will got to the polls in the first phase of elections on April 19.
