Rahul Gandhi to begin Congress' Gujarat campaign with tribal rally on May 1

Over the past several months, the Congress has been raising the issues of the tribals in an attempt to highlight the shortcomings of the BJP government. Recently, the Congress demanded scrapping the Par-Narmada-Tapi river-linking project, saying it threatened the tribal areas, reports ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi will launch the Congress’ Gujarat poll campaign at a tribal rally to be held in Dahod on May 1. Through the rally, Congress is eyeing the crucial 15 percent tribal votes, which influence around 35-40 assembly seats in the western state.

“Preparations are on for the event on May 1,” former Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chawra told ETV Bharat. Over the past several months, the Congress has been raising the issues of the tribals in an attempt to highlight the shortcomings of the BJP government. Recently, the Congress demanded scrapping the Par-Narmada-Tapi river-linking project, saying it threatened the tribal areas.

Led by CLP leader Rathwa and MLA Anant Patel, the state Congress has held protest movements against the central government project in the capital Gandhinagar and affected areas like Dharampur, Tapi, Dang and Kaprala. “The project would have displaced around 50,000 Tribal families. We will not let the government do that to benefit the corporations,” said Rathwa, who is pressing for a white paper on the issue.

As it is highlighting the plight of the tribals, the Congress is also cautious of not being labelled as anti-development. “We are not against development but will fight for the rights of tribals,” said Rathwa, adding that “around 6000 schools in tribal areas are being closed down.” Last month, the Congress and the BJP lawmakers had a war of words in the assembly over the use of the terms "vanvasi" and "vanbandhu" while referring to tribals, claiming that these terms were unconstitutional and derogatory.

The leader of the opposition Paresh Dhanani had argued that the word “vanvasi” was ambiguous and in future outsiders could start living in the forest areas to claim protection and benefits that the tribal communities get under the laws. Later, Gujarat Congress chief Jagdish Thakor, working president Hardik Patel, former Gujarat unit chief Amit Chawra along with AICC in charge Raghu Sharma had clashed with the police as they tried to march towards the Assembly from the protest site in Gandhinagar.

In 2017 too, Rahul had targeted the BJP government in the state questioning the funds that had been allocated for the welfare of tribals. The party had used the tagline “22 saal ka hisab, Gujarat mange jawab” (Gujarat seeks explanation for the past 22 years of rule). Rahul had charged that migration had broken the back of the forest dwellers saying that the Rs 55,000 crore 'vanbandhu' fund had not reached the tribals.

On May 1 too, Rahul is expected to launch a similar attack on the state government and remind the tribals of the times when the Congress was in power in the state, the sources said.