PM Modi addresses tribal communities in Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district

This is PM Modi's first visit to the state this year, coming ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due in a few months.

Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that the BJP will confidently win 370 seats on its own and together with alliance partners (NDA) will cross 400 marks in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election 2024.

Addressing a public meeting of tribal community members in Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district, PM Modi asked voters to ensure polling of additional 370 votes in each booth, compared to the last elections, for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win 370 seats, out of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.

He was speaking as a chief guest at 'Adivasi Mahakumbh', a public meeting in Jhabua, MP. He vehemently attacked the Congress, claiming it was a victim of its follies and destined to be doomed.

"It (Congress) is stuck in the swamp of sin and the more they try to escape, the more they (Congress) get trapped. Speculation is rife that congress is in jittery amid confusion among leaders. Congress only practices the twin agenda of ‘Loot and Foot’ (corruption and divide). While in power they (Congress) resort to corruption and when out of power they attempt divisive tactics," he charged.

Modi added, "I am here to warn you from ulterior motives of Congress," attributing the Grand Old Party of "hate and divide" politics.

"It is the same party which even opposed the nomination/election of President Droupadi Murmu because she hailed from tribal community. The Congress party never bothered to address the genuine concern of Dalits, tribal and Backward communities, but only used them as vote bank for political gains," Modi said.

He contended that the "double engine Sarkar of BJP" was committed to "transform and integrate the villages, poor and tribals communities with the national mainstream." Modi added, "Our priority is to work for upliftment of tribal, Dalit and Backward communities, which unfortunately continued to suffer miserably under Congress rule."

"We have launched different welfare centric schemes in the health sector, education sector and infrastructure development projects in the state. Eklavya residential schools for children hailing from tribal community have been set across the state. The development of Madhya Pradesh regardless of caste and creed is top priority of BJP government and this resolve is being insulated by Modi guarantee. BJP aims to transform and benefit nearly 3 crore Lakhpati didi through SHGs (self help group)," Modi remarked, highlighting his government's schemes in the state.

Modi dedicated to the nation 22 different development projects related to road, rail, power and water sectors projects worth approx. Rs 7,500 crore. Besides, Modi also laid the foundation stone of Krantisurya Tantya Bhil University in Khargone. The state of art university estimated at a cost of around ₹170 crore will help facilitate holistic development of students.

The laying of the foundation stone of 'CM Rise School' in Jhabua. The 'CM Rise School' will integrate technology to provide modern facilities like smart classes, e-Library, among others to students.

During his visit, the prime minister disbursed monthly installments to nearly two lakh women beneficiaries under the Aahar Anudan Yojana of the state. Under the scheme, Rs 1,500 per month are provided for nutritious food to women from backward tribes. The PM also distributed 1.75 lakh 'adhikar abhilekh' (record of land rights) under the SVAMITVA scheme, which will provide documentary evidence to people for the right to their land.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to tribal dominated Jhabua on Sunday aims to drive back home the message that BJP is committed to safeguarding the ownership of 'Jal, Jungle and Jameen' (water, forest and Land) rights to their traditional custodian i.e. the tribal communities.

The maiden public meeting (post-swearing in ceremony of new government) at Jhabua was strategically chosen with an eye to target 6 tribal dominated seats in MP and four each in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Jhabua is the center of tribal politics of western Madhya Pradesh. The focus will be on six Lok Sabha ST (schedule caste) seats in MP, Ratlam-Jhabua, Betul, Khargoan, Dhar, Mandla and Shahdol besides 4 each in Gujarat and Rajasthan including Dahod, Panchmahal, Chota Udaipur of Gujarat and Banswada and other LS seats in Rajasthan.

Taking lessons from assembly election results in tribal seats where BJP did not perform as per their expectation, the party is set to bring some surprises and out of box formula to make good the loss.

In 47 reserved seats for state assembly, the BJP won only 24 seats while congress won 22 and one seat by Bharat Adivasi Party in the 2023 election. This dismal response for BJP in tribal-dominated area resulted in its (BJP) ouster in 2018, compelled the party to do extra bit in order to turn the tide in their favour.

The PM’s poll bugle with this public meeting in Jhabua on February 11 has set the tone to woo tribal community in the forthcoming LS election scheduled in April/May this year.

MP Governor Mangu Bhai Patel, MP chief minister Dr Mohan Yadav, union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste, former CM of Jharkhand Arun Munda, former CM of MP Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP state president VD Sharma and others were present on this occasion. Meanwhile state leadership did not leave any stone unturned to hype the public meeting.

A roadshow by Modi in an open vehicle and in the company of CM Dr Mohan Yadav, Arjun Munde, state president VD Sharma and others had party workers and locals showering flower petals enroute. Modi expressed gratitude to the people for the party's thumping victory in the assembly election and further added that the initial sum of money is yet to be recovered because it (assembly victory) was just an interest/bonus against initial deposit.

Development blitzkrieg

Among the projects Modi inaugurated in Madhaya Pradesh is the 'Talavada Project', which is a drinking water supply scheme for more than one thousand villages of Dhar and Ratlam; and 14 urban water supply schemes under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, benefitting more than 50,000 urban households across multiple districts of Madhya Pradesh.

The prime minister dedicated to the nation 'Nal Jal Yojana' for 50 gram panchayats of Jhabua, which will provide tap water to about 11,000 households.

In addition, Modi launched multiple rail projects during his visit. These include laying of the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Ratlam railway station and Meghnagar railway station. These stations will be redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat station scheme.

The rail projects that will be dedicated to the nation include projects for doubling of Indore-Dewas-Ujjain C cabin railway line, Itarsi-North-South grade separator with yard remodelling and third line connecting Barkhera-Budni-Itarsi.

Roadways weren't neglected either. PM Modi dedicated to the nation multiple road development projects costing more than Rs 3,275 crore in Madhya Pradesh, including four-laning of Harda-Betul (Package-I) from km 0.00 to km 30.00 (Harda-Temagaon) of NH-47, Ujjain-Dewas section of NH-752D, four-laning (16 km) of Indore-Gujarat MP Border section of NH-47 and four-laning of Chicholi-Betul (Package-III) Harda-Betul of NH-47, and Ujjain Jhalawar section of NH-552G.

These projects will improve the road connectivity and also help in economic development in the region.

The prime minister also lay the foundation stone of other development initiatives like waste dumpsite remediation, electric substation, among others.

(With PTI inputs)