Ndtv.com, 7th March, 2008
Sunetra Chowdhury
Friday, March 7, 2008 (Kalahandi)
Rahul Gandhi launched his Orissa tour on Friday calling it 'Discovery of India.'His parents Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi had visited this region about 12 years ago. This is where Rajiv made the famous remark, that of every rupee spend by the government only 17 paise reached the beneficiary.But over the years the tribals have got disillusioned with the party. Now this is Rahul Gandhi's attempt to win the tribals back to the Congress fold. Rahul said, ''The tribals have a sepahi in Delhi that is RG, I always hear their voice.'' Rahul took up his two favourite themes - The Tribals Bill and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to attack the Navin Patnaik's government.Rahul said, ''We have passed the employment bill, it's not working well in Orissa. So, you must demand it from the government.'' The tribals here have been traditional Congress supporters. But over the years many here feel the party's promises have been false.The BJP was quick to make inroads and now Rahul is here again trying to win the tribal vote back. He met villagers protesting Bauxite mining private companies in the area. A woman said, ''I really liked what he had told because he talked about poor.'' Kalahandi is one of the poorest regions, it is also where the BJP has won for the last few years and Rahul touched the most emotive issues that of tribal lands.
No comments:
Post a Comment