Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Tuesday accused the Congress-led government of depriving the tribals of their Constitutional rights.
Chouhan made the allegation while addressing a protest organised by Barela tribals from Sehore district in Tatya Tope Nagar area here for demands like granting of land rights.
"The state government is driving the tribals out of their land which they have been tilling for years for livelihood. If any government tries to snatch the rights of tribals, it will have to face consequences," he said.
Earlier in the day, the administration stopped the protesters from staging a sit-in in Tatya Tope Nagar area despite having a prior permission.
Enraged over this, Chouhan visited the spot, Bhadbhada from where he led the protesters to the scheduled venue of the protest by sitting in a tractor.
Chouhan later led a delegation of tribals that met the chief minister and submitted a memorandum of their demands.
Meanwhile, the ruling Congress hit back at Chouhan alleging that more than 3.5 lakh tribals were deprived of land rights when the BJP was in power.
"Our government would restore the land rights to the tribals," said state Public Relations Minister P C Sharma.
He alleged that the BJP was merely politicising the protests by tribals.
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