Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reached Satna in Madhya Pradesh on a two-day visit and laid the foundation stones for development works worth Rs 50699 lakh and dedicated to the public, other works worth Rs 2556 lakh virtually.

Shah attended the ‘Kol Janjaati Mahakumbh’ (Gathering of Kol tribals) at Satna, which was organised on the occasion of ‘Shabri Mahotsav’ to commemorate the birth anniversary of Mata Shabri, the revered deity of Kol tribals.

Addressing the huge gathering, Shah said the contribution of Kol tribals in India’s freedom struggle has been exemplary and glorious. The Home Minister lauded the tribals and said he was extremely happy to be present in the gathering today.

Shah castigated the Congress saying the party did not appoint even a single tribal person as President of the country in its 70-year-rule. Shah said PM Narendra Modi has made a tribal woman from a poor family, Draupadi Murmu, the President of India.

Shah appreciated the works done for tribal welfare by the BJP government in MP. He said the Congress had come to power for a brief period in MP in 2018 and stopped all the welfare works for tribals.

He said later when the BJP came back to power in 2020, the party restarted all the welfare schemes and works that had been discontinued by the Congress. The Union Minister assured the tribal community that the ‘double engine’ government, with PM Modi at the Centre and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the state, would leave no stone unturned to ensure the overall welfare and development of the tribal communities.

Shah urged the people to ensure that they voted the BJP to power in MP in the upcoming State Assembly polls at the end of this year.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced that Rs 1000 per month would be given as dietary allowance to all women of the Kol tribe from now on. Chouhan also announced other development works worth Rs 532 crore to be undertaken in the Kol dominated tribal areas.

Later in the evening, Shah dedicated a new Government Medical College in Satna, opened by the MP State Government. Shah’s scheduled night halt is in a resort in Satna, where he would take meetings with BJP workers and officers of the Vindhya region.

The party’s performance in the region in the last State Assembly polls in 2018 was poor and Shah’s interaction with BJP leaders of Vindhya area is believed to be a step to analyze the weaknesses and prepare a strategy to overcome them and improve the performance in the Assembly polls scheduled at the end of this year.

Earlier in the morning, Shah reached the Khajuraho airport where MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other leaders greeted him. From there, Shah and Chouhan went to the famous Maa Sharda Temple in Maihar and offered prayers. From there the leaders went to Satna and attended various programmes.