ACCUSING THE ruling JMM-led coalition in Jharkhand of engaging in “dangerous vote-bank politics”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the population of Hindus and Adivasis was declining (“ghat ti hui abadi”), while that of “Bangladeshi infiltrators” was rapidly increasing.
Modi was addressing a rally in Hazaribagh to mark the conclusion of the BJP’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’, ahead of the Assembly elections due later this year.
Alleging attempts to reduce the tribal population to a minority, he said the fight was not for power, but to protect the state’s “roti, beti, maati” (food, daughter, land).
Targeting the JMM-Congress coalition, Modi said: “Today, JMM is being run by people who want to change the identity of Jharkhand, who want to destroy the centuries-old identity of Jharkhand. And their masters in the Congress want to make the Adivasi community a minority in Jharkhand. These people know that they have always cheated the Adivasi community and have never allowed them to come forward. That is why they are preparing their new vote bank in Jharkhand to remain in power. Jharkhand is being sacrificed in this game of vote bank.”
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here.