Prime Minister Modi to Visit Bhopal Today to Lure Tribes
BHOPAL / Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday visit Bhopal to address a mega tribal convention to mark the birth anniversary of tribal icon and freedom fighter Birsa Munda. He will also dedicate the newly developed, Habibganj railway station which has been renamed after ‘Rani Kamlapati’ to the nation.
BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government will celebrate the birth anniversary of the tribal leader, Birsa Munda as Janjateeya Gaurav Divas on 15 November. The convention be will organised at Jamboree Maidan in the state capital.
The Habibganj railway station has been revamped as the most modern style in the country and renamed after the tribal queen of Gond community Rani Kamalapati.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced the rechristening of the station and thanked PM Modi for clearing a nod on the state’s proposal by the Central government. The state government had on Friday written to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in this regard.
According to sources, around 2 lakh Adiwasi people are to be expected to attend the convention, 5000 buses have been engaged to bring them from various districts of the state.
As per the release programme, the PM will also launch several schemes meant for the development and welfare of tribals during the mega event. The PM will arrive here at 12:30 pm, he will attend the tribal convention at 12:50 pm. He will also visit an exhibition of products made by tribals women’s self-help groups at the convention venue. Modi will also visit a photo exhibition based on martyrs and heroes of the freedom struggle from the tribal community.
“Rani Kamalapati is the pride of the Gond community and the last Hindu queen of Bhopal. Her kingdom was usurped by Afghan commander Dost Mohammed by deceit through a conspiracy. When she saw that victory was not possible, she committed ‘Jal Jauhar’ (ritual suicide) to save her honour,” Chouhan said. Her son Naval Shah was killed at Lalghati, a part of today’s Bhopal, he noted.
In a tweet, Chouhan has reiterated that Rani Kamlapati was “the last Hindu queen of Bhopal.” “Habibganj railway station has been named ‘Rani Kamalapati’ after her. It is a matter of great satisfaction and joy for me,” the CM added.
“Celebrating the Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas to mark the birth anniversary in remembrance of tribal icon Birsa Munda and renaming the Habibganj railway station after Rani Kamlapati, are a strategy of the saffron party to allure the tribal community in MP as well as in other tribal-dominated states”, a senior TV journalist of the state, Vinod Sharma told The Sun Today. “It is considered that the tribal voters had been discontented with the BJP in MP(2018), Chhattisgarh(2018), and Jharkhand(2019) Assembly elections so the party faced defeat in the trio states”, Sharma said.
CM Chouhan has been keeping an eye on the preparations to make historic the tribal convention and the PM’s visit. Chouhan on Monday held a meeting with his cabinet colleagues to review the arrangements for the warm welcoming of PM Modi and the convention. He assigned the significant responsibilities of preparations to the ministers. Chouhan also directed officials to highlight the culture, tradition and life values of tribals during the convention.
BJP is riding high after snatching the Schedule Tribe reserved, Jobat Assembly seat a stronghold of Congress in the recently concluded by-polls.. After breaking into the Nimar region, which has the highest 18 reserved seats for STs, BJP has started preparations to make a strategy to enter into the tribal populated seats.
Celebrating the tribal leader’s birth anniversary is considered a part of this strategy to woo tribal voters for upcoming state Assembly polls in 2023 and Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
A total of 47 Assembly seats in the 230-membered state’s Assembly are reserved for the tribal community. In 2018, Congress won 31 seats and came to power while BJP secured 16 seats only. BJP registered a thumping victory in the 2013 Assembly elections and got 31 Adiwasi seats.
The Gond community is the largest tribal group of India with more than 1.2 crore population. MP has the highest number of tribals in the country at about 21.5 per cent of the state’s population.
The station has been revamped under a public-private partnership (PPP), the first such station in the country. It has been developed with the amenities like an airport, it comes under the jurisdiction of the Western Central Railway, was built in 1905, and then it was known as Shahpur. It was named Habibganj station in 1979 when it was expanded.
State BJP has earlier demanded that the Habibganj railway station be renamed after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and party MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur on Thursday also raised demand the same from the PM.
