Adivasis will not dance to the tune of Congress, BJP: Prakash Ambedkar

Mumbai: The Adivasis will not dance to the tunes of BJP and Congress, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi founder Prakash Ambedkar said on Tuesday, a day after he announced efforts to form a new front comprising Scheduled Tribes (STs), Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

This is a significant move by Ambedkar in the run up to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections.

Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, raised the issue of water, land and forests involving the tribal population.

“The Adivasis will not dance to the tunes of the BJP and the Congress. The Adivasis have been denied equal rights and social justice and their Jal, Jangal, Jameen looted by the successive governments of the BJP and Congress,” said Ambedkar, a two-time Lok Sabha MP and one-term Rajya Sabha MP.

“The BJP and Congress have continued the British legacy of encroachment and destruction of forest lands of the Adivasis by outsiders. Both have confined the participation of Adivasi leaders to reserved constituencies only. This will not continue,” he said.

Ambedkar said that representatives of Adivasis have come together to fight for their social and political rights with the VBA.

Ambedkar has brought together Tuleshwar Markam, President of the Gondwana Gantantra Party; Sunil Gaikwad from the Bharat Adivasi Party; Madhav Tekam from the Kolam Aadim Jamat Sangh among others.