BJP trying to cash in on PESA Act ahead of MP Assembly polls: Digvijaya
BHOPAL / Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh on Saturday said that as soon as the Assembly polls came around the corner, the PESA Act remembered to BJP to woo the tribal voters whereas they (BJP) always resisted whenever Congress tried to implement it.
In a series of tweets, the Rajya Sabha MP, Singh accused the BJP-led MP government of making a conspiracy to give an opportunity to the BJP workers instead of tribal youths, ignoring the rules in appointing the coordinators for implementing the Panchayat Extension to Schedule Areas (PESA) Act.
These days, Senior Congress leader Singh has made active in state politics ahead of the Assembly elections due in November this year and he has been touring the state after ending the party’s people outreach campaign, ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, which was headed by him.
“Now, the 2023 polls are round the corner, the Act remembered, but in the coordinators’ recruitment for implementing it, a conspiracy was made by appointing political workers instead of tribal youths against the rules”, senior Congress leader Singh tweeted.
He tweeted that the Parliament passed the PESA Act unanimously in 1996. MP had the first state that provisioned the reservations in the Gram, Janpad and district panchayats to the tribals in 1997 and conducted elections, BJP had opposed the move. During the period, 1993 to 2003, Digvijaya was the CM of the state.
“Gram Swaraj Act was brought so that decisions of villages are taken in the villages and the permission of Gram Sabha was made mandatory for every development work, BJP also opposed it”, he also tweeted.
MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan implemented the PESA Act in the state on November 15, last year on the occasion of Janjatiya Gaurav Divas, covering the 89 scheduled areas where the tribal population reside according to the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.
“The state sent a proposal after passing the Assembly to include more than 50 per cent population of the tribals in the Sixth Schedule to the centre but the then Union BJP-led government rejected it”, Digvijaya also tweeted.
In 2003, the Congress government ordered to implementation of the rules of PESA, which was made by the Act’s originator BD Sharma, but after becoming into power BJP did not implement it, Singh also said in the tweets.
“The Kamal Nath-led Congress government again took initiative to implement the Act but BJP toppled the government by purchasing in crores some corrupt Congress MLAs”, Digvijaya further tweeted.
Digvijay suggested his state party unit the ‘Pathargadi (carving a stone) Movement’ should be taken, which is required to make aware the tribal community. The campaign was started by tribals in the Khunti district of Jharkhand to assert their rights, in which tribals carved stones with orders such as restricting the entry of outsiders
