Patna: Making a veiled attack on the Nehru-Gandhi family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday charged previous Congress govts with trying to undermine the contributions of tribal leaders in the freedom movement "so that only one party and one family got away with the credit".
Addressing a function organised to mark the commencement of the 150th birth anniversary year celebration of Birsa Munda on ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas' in Jamui, about 160km southeast of Patna, Modi said, "As we celebrate Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas, it is important to understand why this event is necessary. It is an honest effort to correct a great injustice in history. The contribution of the tribal community was not given the recognition in history it deserved after independence."
The PM also laid the foundation and inaugurated various development projects worth around Rs 6,640 crore during the event. It was the second visit of the PM in Bihar in the last two days.
"The tribal community is the one that transformed the prince Ram into Lord Ram. The tribal community is the one that led the centuries-long fight to protect Bharat's culture and freedom. However, in the decades following independence, attempts were made to erase this invaluable contribution from the tribal history, driven by selfish politics to give credit for Bharat's freedom solely to one party. But if only one party or family secured independence, then why did the ‘Ulgulan' movement led by Birsa Munda happen? What was the Santhal Rebellion? What was the Kol Rebellion? Can we forget the valiant Bhils who fought alongside Maharana Pratap?" Modi asked the audience.
"Who can forget the tribal brothers and sisters who empowered Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the dense forests of the Sahyadri? Can anyone overlook the service of Mother India by the tribals under Alluri Sitarama Raju, or the bravery of Tilka Manjhi, Sidhu Kanhu, Budhu Bhagat, Telanga Kharia, Nilamber-Pitamber (all of Jharkhand) and Ramji Gond of Telangana … etc?" the PM asked.
Modi also said that due to the attitude of previous govts, the tribal community was deprived of basic facilities for decades. Recalling how the tribal-dominated districts were chosen by the previous Congress govts for giving "punishment posting" to an officer, the PM said, "If an officer needed to be punished or posted as a punishment, such districts were chosen for their postings. But the NDA govt changed this mindset of the old govts. We declared these districts as ‘aspirational districts' and sent new and energetic officers there. I am satisfied that today many aspirational districts have surpassed other districts on various development parameters. This has greatly benefited the tribals."
Extending a warm welcome to Modi on the dais, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar asserted that JD(U) would remain with Narendra Modi "forever."
"Some people in our party did some mistakes in the past. But now, we have taken a firm decision that such mistakes will not be repeated and we will remain with him (Modi) forever. We have been with NDA since the days of Atal Bihari Vajpayee," Nitish said.
Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Union ministers Jual Oram, Jitan Ram Manjhi, Giriraj Singh and Chirag Paswan were also present on the occasion.