The choice of a tribal to be the new Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh is a landmark one, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Meghalaya chief spokesperson Mariahom Kharkrang said today.
The BJP, which won the recent election in the state, picked Vishnu Deo Sai as the new CM. Chhattisgarh has a large proportion of tribals in its population.
The choice of Sai as well as the election of India’s first tribal President, Droupadi Murmu, shows that the BJP is pro-tribal and why tribal communities across the North East and the rest of the country should “throw their weight behind the current Prime Minister during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” Kharkrang said today.
“This is a country with a sizable tribal population spread across many states, with most North Eastern states being tribal majority. Yet, successive central governments had ignored our aspirations for over 70 years,” he was quoted as saying in a press release. “Enter the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre and everything seems to have changed. From the first tribal President of the Indian Union to the first tribal Chief Minister of a mainland state, tribal empowerment as promised by the Prime Minister is taking shape. We, the tribes of India, can now dare to dream bigger.”
Kharkrang added that the BJP will increase its seat share in Parliament after next year’s elections and this will lead to greater empowerment and increased development schemes for tribals of the country.