Indore: Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Congress of glorifying only the Nehru-Gandhi family but forgetting the contribution of such tribal revolutionaries as Tantya Bhil to the country's freedom struggle.
"I want to ask Congressmen why they forgot the contribution of tribal revolutionaries, including Tanya Mama despite ruling the country for many years. We studied in history during the Congress's tenure that the country got freedom through the struggle by Gandhiji and Nehruji, but they forgot the contributions of Tantya Mama, Bhima Naya, Birsa Munda and others," Chouhan said.
He said the people of this region worshipped Tantya Bhil as God, but the Congress never paid obeisance to this holy land of Tantya Bhil and never built his memorial. Chouhan was addressing a tribal convention to pay tribute to Tantya Bhil on his 'Balidan Diwas' (martyr's anniversary) at the Nehru Stadium on Saturday.
Hailing Tantya Bhil as a "brave son of Mother India", Chouhan said, "Tantya Bhil had fought against exploitation by the British. The British got him arrested through deception with the help of a traitor and he was awarded the death penalty."
Chouhan also announced the development of a memorial dedicated to Tantya Bhil at Patalpani, besides a park and a library based on this tribal revolutionary.
Announces PESA Act implementation
The chief minister also announced the implementation of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), 1996, in the state and also read its notification from the dais.
'It was a long-standing demand to implement the PESA Act in the state and I'm announcing that the Act is being implemented in the state which will strengthen the gram sabha and the notification has been issued for it,' he said
He targeted the Congress for not implementing the Act and said, 'I want to ask the Congress, which used to target us, what did they do for implementing the PESA Act in the state? Many Congress leaders ran campaigns for the PESA Act and even became MLAs but didn't act on their promise when they came to power'
