By IANS,
Raipur: The national president of the Adivasi Mahasabha Saturday demanded that the government withdraw the security forces if it is serious about establishing peace in Bastar. Only after that would the Mahasabha ask the Maoists also to leave the area, he said.
Addressing a mammoth rally of tribals at Jadgalpur, the divisional headquarters of Bastar Saturday, Manish Kunjam, a former Chhattisgarh legislator and well-known Communist Party of India leader in the troubled Bastar region, alleged that due to the faulty policy of the government, tribal people of Chhattisgarh were being uprooted from their traditional habitat.
“Despite the fact that the state is covered by the sixth schedule of the constitution, tribal people living in forest areas are deprived of ownership rights on their own land,” he said.
“Neither the union nor the state government is serious about solving the problems of the tribal people. As the iron ore mines of Bastar are allocated to big industrial houses undermining provisions of the sixth schedule, the tribal population is facing displacement at large scale,” Kunjam charged.
Notably, the Adivasi Mahasabha also took out rallies at Dantewada, Sukma and Kondagaon to press for their demands, including strict implementation of sixth schedule norms, distribution of forest right papers to all eligible families and enforcing the PESA Act 1996, enabling tribal self rule in scheduled areas.
The gathering was also addressed by former union minister Arvind Netam, Ramnath Sarfe and former MLA Nandaram Sodhi who also demanded withdrawal of security forces from Bastar.