Congress raps Odisha BJP govt over deteriorating law and order

NEW DELHI(Fast Mail): The Congress on Monday lashed out at the BJP government in Odisha over deteriorating law and order situation there.

The party also condemned the highly objectionable remarks of Chief Minister Mohan Manjhi against the tribal girls.

While addressing a press conference at the Congress office in New Delhi, Odisha Congress in-charge Dr. Ajoy Kumar and Congress MP Saptagiri Ulka demanded the Chief Minister to apologise to the tribals and women.

Dr. Ajoy Kumar said that in Balasore, Odisha, BJP supporters had tied tribal women to trees and beat them. “This is the result of BJP's hateful ideology”, he observed while adding Congress had warned the people of Odisha that if the BJP government comes, no one will be safe.

Dr Ajoy said, Criminal incidents have continuously been happening in Odisha during the seven-month rule of the BJP government. He revealed that on September 1, 2024, a nine-year-old girl was raped in Balasore and on October 14, 2024, a 19-year-old girl was raped in Malkangiri.

Dr Ajoy said, on November 21, 2024, human feces were put into the mouth of a tribal woman. On January 1 of this year, four Christian youths celebrating New Year in Balasore were were beaten up and forced to chant Jai Shri Ram, he said while adding that on January 26, houses of eight Dalit families were burnt.

He also mentioned the objectionable remarks of Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Manjhi about tribal women. He  quoted him saying that tribal girls are “not clean” and people have to go to other districts to search for girls at the time of marriage.

The senior Congress leader said it was shocking that a Chief Minister, who himself is a tribal, is saying such things about the girls and women of his own society.

“Only a person who has passed out from RSS university can say such things”, he observed, while pointing out how poisonous the RSS-BJP's ideology is, can be gauged from the fact that it has turned the thinking of a tribal Chief Minister against his own society.

He said, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi expressed hatred towards tribal women and said that tribal women in his district were not good, they do not stay clean, that's why he had to go outside and get married. “But this is not surprising, because this is RSS's agenda, that's why BJP calls tribals as Vanvasis”, he said.

 Saptagiri Ulka also raised the issue of giving national project status to Polavaram Dam. He said that the central government has given national project status to Polavaram Dam. But the reality is that if Polavaram Dam is built, then the houses of people of 122 tribal villages of Malkangiri in Odisha will be submerged.

Raising the issue of Mahanadi, he asked when there is BJP government in Odisha and Chhattisgarh, then why is the issue of Water Tribunal Body not being resolved. He alleged that the Tribal Sub Plan and PESA are being weakened. This is all a conspiracy, about which people should be aware, he warned.