GANDHINAGAR: The state government and the state unit of the ruling party have planned a yearlong sustained drive to dent the Congress’s tribal vote bank with the proposed Rs 1 lakh crore Van Bandhu KalyanYojana-II, which the saffron party will kick off from August 9 – World Tribal Day.
At stake are the 27 assembly seats which are reserved for candidates from scheduled tribes. In the 2017 assembly election, the Congress won 15, while the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) won 2 seats. The BJP won 9 and one was bagged by an independent. However, the arithmetic has changed considerably since then. MLAs of Dang and Kaprada quit the Congress and joined the BJP, subsequently getting elected on BJP tickets. BJP also won the Morwa Hadaf seat in byelection. Now,the BJP has control over 12 seats reserved for tribals, the Congress has 13 and two are with the BTP. All four Lok Sabha seats reserved for scheduled tribes are held by the BJP.
The Gujarat government had launched Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana in 2007 while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat chief minister. Now, after 14 years, the Gujarat government led by chief minister Vijay Rupani has planned to launch the Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna – II under which BJP plans a massive campaign to woo tribal voters and win maximum seats.
Ganpatsinh Vasava, tribal and forest minister said, “The Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana introduced by PM Narendrabhai Modi in 2007, while he was the Gujarat CM, has yield good results. Now the state government has planned to launch the second phase of Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana from the World Tribal Day on August 9.”
“Since 2007, the state government has spent Rs 96,000 crore for development of tribal areas under the Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna. Under the second phase of the scheme, the state government will spend Rs 1 lakh crore for development of the tribal population. Major focus will be given on health, education, irrigation and infrastructure development in the tribal areas,’’ he added. Ashwin Kotwal, tribal MLA of the Congress and chief whip of the opposition party in the assembly, said, “The BJP has planned to come out with new name of Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojna – II just to mislead tribals before 2022 assembly elections. If BJP’s claim of spending Rs 96,000 crore for tribal development is true, then why are a majority of the tribals still living under poverty line? Why are tribal areas still lacking basic health and education facilities?”
Kotwal alleged, “BJP is diverting mandatory tribal sub-plan money for so called roads, irrigation and other construction work only. The government has spent very little for the direct welfare of the tribal population .’’
