Union Home Minister Amit Shah Sunday accused the Congress of exploiting the tribal community for votes, and said it was only after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister that the country got its first tribal President in Droupadi Murmu.
He also alleged that poverty increased under the Congress rule even as the party had given a call of eliminating it.
"Congress only delivered speeches. It gave the slogan of eliminating poverty, but instead worked to eliminate the poor. It exploited tribals by garnering their votes. Despite 70 years of independence, not a single tribal brother or sister became the president of the country," Shah said, addressing a poll rally at Dediapada in tribal-dominated Narmada district.
"It was after Narendra Modi became the prime minister that he worked to make Droupadi Murmu, a daughter of a tribal, poor family from Santhal pargana of Odisha the country's President," he said.
He said that Modi worked towards ending the division between the rich and the poor and delivered his first speech after becoming the prime minister.
"When Modi became the prime minister, his first speech was that his government will be for the tribals, Dalits, poor and OBCs. He did what he said. In eight years, Modi reserved a large portion of the budget for 80 crore poor people of the country," Shah said.
He said there is not a single village in the country that is now without access to electricity.
"Modi worked for uniting the country which was divided into poor and rich," he added.
Shah also took a swipe at the Gujarat Congress' election campaign highlighting its achievements when it was in power three decades ago, and said the opposition party did not do anything other than increasing poverty.
"Congress says "Kaam bole chhe" (it is work that speaks). It has not been in power since the last 32 years. When the people of Gujarat did not vote it to power for 32 years, it says its work speaks for it. You did nothing other than increasing poverty," he said.
He said that in its last budget, the Congress government had allocated Rs 1,000 crore for tribals in Gujarat, while Bhupendra Patel, the current chief minister, allocated Rs 1 lakh crore for this community in his last budget, he said.
"Congress does not know what tribal development means...It did nothing other than make each other fight. After BJP came to power, not a single curfew was imposed in any police station in the last 20 years," Shah said.
-With PTI Input
