Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday addressed an audience in his constituency of Wayanad where he claimed that the Congress party believes that the Adivasis are the original landowners of the country. And he accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government of neglecting the Adivasi community and further stated that calling them 'Vanvasi' instead of Adivasi is an attempt of restricting them to the jungles.
Rahul Gandhi said that the BJP insults the tribal community by calling them 'vanvasi' instead of Adivasi and snatching away their forest land to hand them over to the industrialists. Gandhi spoke about this issue in Rajasthan during a party rally as well.
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Gandhi accused the "perverted logic" of referring to tribals as 'vanvasis' today after he inaugurated HT Connection at Dr Ambokar Memorial Cancer Centre Nalloornad, Mananthavady in Wayanad district.
"It is to deny that you (tribals) are the original owners of the land and also restrict you to the jungle," says Wayanad MP.
"The idea is that you belong in the jungle and should not leave the jungle," he said.
The Congress leader said that this ideology was not acceptable to his party as the word vanvasi was a "distortion" of the history and traditions of the tribal communities and an "attack" on their relationship with the country.
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"For us (Congress) you are Adivasi, the original owners of the land," he said.
Gandhi further said that since Adivasis are the original owners of the land, they should be given rights to the land and forests and "be allowed to have an imagination to do whatever they want".
They should be given all the opportunities, to education, jobs, professions, etc, that is given to everyone else in the country.
"You (tribals) should not be restricted or categorised. The entire planet should be open to you," he said.
Gandhi said that the word Adivasi means a particular wisdom, an understanding of the environment of the earth we live on and a relationship with the planet.
He also said that the words 'environment' and 'environment protection' have become fashionable now after modern society burned down forests and caused pollution.
However, Adivasis have been talking of protecting the environment for thousands of years. "So we have a lot to learn from you," he said.
Regarding the cancer centre, the Congress leader said he hoped that the new electricity connection would resolve the problems faced by doctors and patients due to the frequent power cuts in the area.
He said he was happy to provide Rs 50 lakh from the MPLADS fund for the same and added that the hospital will get an additional Rs 5 crore as a result of the good work done by the officials of the district.
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"I am confident it would be used productively," he said.
At the event he also mooted the idea of having mobile breast cancer screening units which can go to homes and screen women for the disease.
He suggested the idea saying that he came to know that a lot of women here were being diagnosed with breast cancer.
"Having mobile screening units will help us catch the disease early and save their lives," he said.
Later in the evening today, he would be travelling to Kozhikode district to lay the foundation stone of the Community Disability Management Center (CDMC) at St. Joseph High School Auditorium in Kodenchery there.
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After that, around 10.30 PM, he is scheduled to depart for Delhi from Calicut International airport.
Gandhi arrived in Kerala on Saturday for a two-day visit, his first after being reinstated as the MP of Wayanad.
(With PTI inputs)
