Last Update: January 27, 2023, 23:42 IST
The allegation was made by BJD state general secretary Pradeep Manjhi, who is also the party’s tribal face in southern Odisha (Image: Twitter)
BJP rejects BJD’s claim of neglecting Odisha’s tribals
Holding the Center responsible for the alleged delay in including 169 communities in the ST list in Odisha, the ruling BJD on Friday dubbed the BJP “anti-tribal” and blamed it for neglecting them.
The allegation was leveled by BJD state general secretary Pradeep Manjhi, who is also the party’s tribal face in southern Odisha.
The BJP rejected the BJD’s claim of neglecting the tribals of Odisha.
The regional party’s allegation coincides with Odisha’s veteran tribal leader and former Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang quitting the saffron party and joining Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Bharat Rashtra Samithi in Hyderabad.
“Though the state government has been repeatedly requesting the BJP-led government at the Center to include 169 communities in the Odisha ST list, it has ignored it,” Manjhi told reporters at a press conference here.
He said that the reason for the defeat of the saffron party in all the 30 districts of the state in the Zilla Parishad elections a year ago could be its double standards on this issue.
Majhi said, “While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is fighting for the rights of the communities, the BJP is shedding crocodile tears.” He demanded immediate steps to include these 169 communities in the ST list.
Patnaik has been working for the development and welfare of tribals in the state and his BJD government has provided hostels to five lakh tribal girls. He said that Special Development Councils have been set up in nine tribal dominated districts of the State covering 117 Blocks, 2022 Gram Panchayats, 18687 villages and 14.05 lakh Scheduled Tribe households.
He asserted that on the other hand the BJP has always neglected the tribals in Odisha and subsequent governments at the Center have neglected 169 communities by depriving them of the facilities given to the Scheduled Tribes.
The proposal of the state government to include the communities in the ST list of Odisha is pending with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
On 16 September 2022, Patnaik wrote to Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda to consider the inclusion of Pauri Bhuiyan, Chuktiya Bhunjia, Durua, Dhurua, Dhurwa, Uram, Dhangara, Oram/Uraon, Uraon Mudi and many others in the ST list. It was written for but it is yet to get the approval of the Center.
On October 10 the same year, the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs was urged to include 20 communities, including Tomodiya Bhumij, Tamadia Bhumij, Tamundiya Bhumij, Tamuliya Bhumij, in Odisha’s ST list, but the Center remained non-responsive, Majhi said .
He said the issue was also raised by Patnaik in several national fora and he had written to the Center on several occasions.
Rejecting the allegations, BJP’s state general secretary and spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said, ‘BJD’s allegation is just eyewash. All tribal programs are centrally funded. Prime Minister Narendra Modi Gives adequate importance to tribals and hence a tribal woman is the President of the country and a tribal man from Odisha is a Union Minister.
President Draupadi Murmu is from Rairangpur in Odisha and Bisheshwar Tudu, the BJP MP from Mayurbhanj district, is the Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)