Rahul Gandhi repeated his lie of vanvasi rights being snatched away while stating that ‘Adivasis’ are the ‘first owners’ of the country. He made a similar false statement in April 2019 when he claimed that the Modi government had included a provision in the Adivasi law which will empower the government to shoot down vanvasis (‘Tribals’) without having to face any consequences.
Reporting on Gandhi’s speech, The Indian Express noted:
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the Narendra Modi-led central government of weakening laws framed by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to empower tribals and said his party will revive them after returning to power.
Addressing the Adivasi Mahila Workers’ Sammelan at Jalgaon-Jamod in Maharashtra’s Buldhana district, Gandhi said tribals are the “first owners” of the country and have equal rights like other citizens.
The Modi government has been weakening laws like Forest Rights, Land Rights, Panchayat Raj Acts and the reservation for women in local bodies, Gandhi alleged.
He said PM Modi calls tribals ‘vanvasis’. “Words ‘Adivasi’ and ‘vanvasi’ have different meanings,” he said.
“Vanvasi means you can live only in jungles, not in cities, you can’t become a doctor and engineer and can’t travel by plane,” he said.
Gandhi alleged that the PM wanted to take away the tribal land and give it to his industrialist friends.
”When we come to power, we will strengthen these laws and frame new legislations for your welfare,” he said.
Gandhi said his grandmother (former prime minister) Indira Gandhi would say Adivasis were the first owners of the country.
”You will not understand the country if you don’t understand the culture and history of tribals,” he said.
Gandhi is simply peddling the divisive narrative of his leftist Hinduphobic friends. However, it is too much to expect him to educate himself when Congress’ agenda is to divide the Hindu society for its narrow politics. These are the kind who have propagated the lies of janjatis people as being non-Hindu.
HinduPost had highlighted how vested interests had propagated the lie of vanvasis not being Hindus. First of all, to separate the vanvasis from Hindu society is to create a wall of division under the pretext of creating their own unique identity and paving the way for the creation of a terrible class struggle. Once they have been separated from their thousands of years of bonding, then others will have the opportunity to accelerate the conversion of tribal people to foreign religions in the future.
Who started this culture of Bhagwan Jagannath yatra? It was a Sabar Raja, a vanvasi king. The tradition of the Rath Yatra is thousands of years old. The descendants of the Tribal Rajas (called “Daitapati”), the Sevayatas in Puri temple, play an important role in the worship tradition of the temple.
In Ramayana, Sri Ramachandra eats at Shabari’s home. Tribes such as Santali, Vill, Munda, Mizo, etc., all have Ramayana in their culture. Not only in Jagannath Temple but also Ayyappa Swami in Sabarimala, Tirupati Balaji in Andhra Pradesh, etc. are all connected with the tribal culture. The local tribals are worshipers at the famous Gupteswar temple in Koraput of Odisha. Even today, tribals are the main worshipers at the Maa Deuri Durga temple in Jharkhand.
By peddling ‘Adivasis’ are the ‘first owners’ line, Rahul Gandhi is trying to revive the discredited Aryan Invasion/Migration Theory. Greek scholar Nicholas Kazanas debunked the theory in his recent interview. The myth was thoroughly busted by the Rakhigarhi DNA analysis.
Internationally renowned archaeologist Prof. Vasant Shinde of Deccan College, Pune discovered 5000-year-old DNA evidence, from the largest SSC site of Rakhigarhi in Haryana, that conclusively proved that present-day Bharatiyas are direct descendants of the SSC (Sindu Sarasvati Civilization) people and that so-called Aryans neither invaded nor migrated to Bharat. DNA and other evidence from Rakhigarhi indicate that SSC was indeed the Vedic civilization that continues to be practised even today.
It is high time Gandhi and his ilk stop their cheap tactics of diving Hindu society using colonial theories and falsehood.
Watching his activities one wonders if this is a Bharat JODO ya Bharat TODO yatra?