With an eye on the high percentage of tribal votes in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday in Madhya Pradesh commended services the tribal population rendered on the country since time immemorial.

Crediting the tribals for the elevation of the protagonist epic Ramayana to divinity, Narendra Modi said it was the adivasis who helped ‘Prince Ram’ become ‘Lord Rama’.

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The PM also lauded the contribution of adivasi kings and queens and tribal freedom fighters in the struggle for the country’s independence.

Addressing an election rally in the tribal-dominated Seoni district of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh this afternoon, Modi alleged that the Congress party always has, and is still trying to misuse and deceive the tribals. Insinuating Rahul Gandhi without naming him, the PM said, “a leader of the Congress has opened up a shop of lies and he is going to adivasi areas and spreading lies there.”

In MP, 47 out of the 230 assembly seats are reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST). The STs account for 21 per cent of the population of Madhya Pradesh, which is the highest among all the states in India.

The PM said that the adivasis have been living in India since ancient times and they were the ones who assisted Prince Ram in achieving victory and eventually becoming the most revered Lord Rama.

“The Congress portrays that India achieved independence only due to one family, but in reality many tribals and adivasis also contributed immensely in our freedom struggle,” Modi said.

“In more than five decades after independence, the Congress did not care about tribals and did nothing for the adivasis,” the PM alleged. “It was our late PM Atal Behari Vajpayee and the BJP government that started an independent ministry for tribal welfare,” Modi said.

“Even now, our government is spending more than Rs 15000 crore in various welfare schemes for the benefit of the Baiga, Bharia and Sahariya tribes,” the PM asserted.

“In addition, our government is going to spend lakhs of crore rupees for the free ration scheme for 80 crore, which I have decided to extend for the next five years,” the PM stated. He informed that more than five crore poor in MP were also getting free ration under the scheme.

“I have experienced poverty, I can feel the pain of the poor,” Mr Modi said.

“During the Congress government, their scams ran into lakhs of crore rupees, but the BJP is spending lakhs of crore rupees for the welfare of the poor,” the PM stated. “The Congress is for scams but the BJP is for the poor,” the PM emphasized.

The PM said the good quality smartphones in the hands of the poor today, have been made affordable and cheap after the BJP came to power. “In the Congress regime there were only two mobile phone manufacturing factories in India. Today, there are more than 200 producing good quality affordable phones,” he maintained.

He said had it been the Congress government, the monthly bill on mobile phone use for the poor would have been Rs 5000 but because of the BJP government it is Rs 500. “Your son Modi is helping you save Rs 3000-4000 each month on mobile phones,” the PM stated.

“Also, the farmers in India get a bag of Urea for less than Rs 300, but the price of the same bag in the USA and our neighbouring countries is anywhere between Rs 2500 to Rs 3000,” the PM claimed.

He said the BJP government at the Centre is spending about Rs 2.60 lakh crore on the PM Kisan samman nidhi and about 2.5 lakh farmers of Seoni district are also benefiting.

Targeting the Gandhi family, Modi alleged, “The present Congress leaders are telling people that our grandfather did this, our grandmother did that, so vote for us.”

He said that in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is not contesting to win the assembly polls but only to somehow get the sons of Congress leaders settled. “In trying to set their sons, these Congress leaders will upset the people and the state,” Mr Modi quipped.

“The Congress knows it is not winning, so its leaders are only focusing on the future of their sons. You cannot trust such people,” he cautioned. “These Congress leaders will never bother about the welfare of your sons or daughters.” the PM averred.

He asserted that it is only the BJP that can guarantee the continuity of good governance and holistic development in Madhya Pradesh.

“Some people sit in closed rooms and predict poll results after speaking with just five-six persons. Such people must come here and see on the ground what victory looks like,” Modi said, thanking and appreciating the large crowd that attended the meeting.

In the 2018 MP Assembly elections, the Congress party received 45 per cent of the votes in the 30 constituencies where tribals account for more than 50 per cent of the population. This was four percent more than the BJP’s vote share.

Even in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when Congress received just 35 per cent of votes in the state, it still managed to score 44 per cent in these seats.