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Playing the tribal card to woo voters, Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi on Monday strongly opposed the displacement of peoplefor various projects without offering them adequate compensation and said, theCongress would strive for safeguarding the interests of the poor andunderprivileged.
Addressing a public meeting near Semiliguda in the tribaldominated Koraput district, Gandhi said, he stood by the agitating Dongariatribals in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts to save the Niyamagiri hill.
TheDongaria, a particularly vulnerable tribal group, had agitated against the proposalof mining on this hill-range to feed bauxite to the Lanjigarh alumina refineryof Vedanta at Lanjigarh.
Gandhi had visited Langigarh during the agitation and assuredthe tribals that he would work as their ‘sepoy’ in Delhi. Gandhi said, he would continue to fight for the tribalpeople.
Recalling the visit of his grandmother India Gandhi and father RajivGandhi to the area, he said, his family had long-standing bond with thesepeople and "I love to be in the midst of tribals”.
He said, the state wanted to implement the mining plan inthe hill-range at any cost. But it was the judiciary which gave justice to thetribal people. “Odisha seems to be ruled by the mine mafia, not by the peoplerepresentatives.The valuable minesworth thousands of crores of rupees are being looted with the knowledge of thegovernment”, he alleged. While a handful of people looted mineral resources of Odishaand became rich, the poor and tribal people did not get any benefit, Gandhisaid. In contrast, the Centre has set up a number of institutes, medicalcolleges and hospitals for the betterment of the poor, he added.
Rahul was in favour of making Odisha a manufacturing hub forsmall and medium scales industries like China. “I want Odisha to become amanufacturing hub for the electronics items like camera similar to China tosupply in the world market”, he stated.
He alleged that though the Centre sent thousands of croresof rupees for the welfare of the tribal people in the state, the amount was notreaching the beneficiaries at the village level.
The state government wasdiverting the Central funds and taking credit for various welfare schemes withoutjustification.
He also raised corruption issues like chit fund scam andalleged that the ruling BJD leaders were behind the ponzi companies which dupedthe poor and innocent investors in the state.
He said, his party was for reservation of 33 percent seatsfor woman in the state Assembly and Lok Sabha.
