Govt failed to protect tribal rights, must defend Forest Rights Act in SC: Rahul

Congress MP and Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the Narendra Modi government had failed to protect the rights of tribals and urged it to act swiftly to defend the Forest Rights Act in the Supreme Court.

Lakhs of Adivasi families face eviction from their traditional lands as the Modi government disregards the Forest Rights Act (FRA), the Congress MP from Rae Bareli said in a bilingual post on X.

He claimed that the Congress-led government introduced the law in 2006 to correct a historic injustice and ensure that Adivasis had rights over their "jal, jangal and zameen water, forest and land)".

"However, due to the inaction of the central government, countless genuine claims under the FRA have been arbitrarily rejected without any review," the former Congress president said.

"In 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of all those whose claims had been rejected, a move that triggered widespread protests across the country. In response, the court paused evictions and called for a thorough review of the rejected claims," he added.

The case is back before the Supreme Court tomorrow, 2 April, and once again, the Modi government is "missing in action", Gandhi alleged.

"It failed to defend the law in 2019 and continues to show no intention of standing up for Adivasi rights today. Worse still, there has been no serious attempt to review or reconsider the lakhs of pending and rejected claims," the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

"If the Modi government truly wants to protect Adivasis rights and protect lakhs of families from eviction, it must act swiftly and defend the Forest Rights Act in court," he added.