Lashing out at the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh over the issue of corruption, Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday accused it of siphoning off development funds worth over ₹9,000 crore.
Addressing a public rally in Korba on Saturday which marked the launch of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign for the Assembly elections in late 2023 and the Lok Sabha polls that will follow a few months later, Mr. Shah said that the money was given to Chhattisgarh as part of the District Mineral Fund or DMF but was “sacrificed at the altar of Congress’ corruption”.
The DMF is a share of the revenue that is provided for the development of the area where a mine is located. Chhattisgarh, a mineral rich State, has several mines across the State and houses tribal population in the immediate vicinity.
“Chhattisgarh received 9,233 crores [under the DMF]. I have come to ask that what did Bhupesh Baghel ji do with the development fund? I have come to ask the backward class and tribal society of Chhattisgarh whether works worth 9,233 crore have been done in your area? Where did the money go?” asked the Home Minister. He then proceeded to accuse that the money was spent to make Congress party workers in the State wealthier.
“I will tell you where the money is. Just look at the house of a Congressman in your village, he must have been driving a scooty before forming the government, now he drives a car with four bracelets, what do you call it.. Audi. They have an Audi in front of their house. Their house once made of tin sheets are now three-storey RCC concrete structures. What was their income, what was their business.. this 9,233 crore was sacrificed on the altar of Congress’ corruption,” he said.
“Should we not hold them accountable for this? And this accounting doesn’t happen by going home in a democracy. While voting, it has to be done by pressing the button on the lotus symbol. The BJP government will take care of the rest of their corruption, don’t worry,” he said making a campaign pitch for the two back to back elections. He underlined that the BJP’s victory in 2023 Assembly election was crucial if people wanted to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister again in 2024.
Mr. Shah further alleged that the Congress party had nothing to show in the name of development of the Scheduled Tribes and backward classes.
‘Uprooting Naxalism’
Chhattisgarh, a Maoist insurgence affected area, is one of the 11 States that Mr. Shah is touring this month as part of his party’s ‘Lok Sabha pravaas’ programme aimed at the next general elections. During Saturday’s meeting, the Home Minister said that efforts were on to eradicate Maoism from the country before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Pointing out that Naxal violence had gradually come down across India under the BJP rule, Mr. Shah said that the country reported 2,258 Naxal incidents in 2009 when the Congress was ruling and that number had reduced to 509 in 2021.
Lord Ram’s Nanihal
“It is my good fortune that today I have come to Lord Shri Ram’s Nanihal (maternal home). So I start by saying Jai Shri Ram from my heart to all Chhattisgarhi people,” Mr. Shah said. Notably, religious symbolism is a key element of CM Baghel’s political strategy and a temple of Kaushalya Mata (lord Ram’s mother) in Chandrakhuri – that was renovated in 2020 – is one of the many projects through which he is portraying a connect between his government and Hindu deities and symbols. State BJP leaders have even questioned the validity of the claim that Chandrakhuri was the birthplace of Ma Kaushalya in the past.
While presenting a slew of statistics of the works done by the BJP at the Centre since 2014 and the 15 years that it ruled Chhattisgarh before being voted out in 2018, Mr. Shah appealed to the public to add “the second engine” to accelerate development in Chhattisgarh.
