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Congress’ star campaigner Rahul Gandhi on Monday addressed a public meeting in Dhanaura of Seoni district in Madhya Pradesh.
He said, tribals are the first owners of this country and this land and so, the Congress party calls you an Adivasi. On the other hand the BJP, Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah call you a Vanvasi.
Rahul Gandhi further added that there are two different ideologies behind these words. The word Adivasi means those people who were the first owners of this land of this country. He said that if you were the first owner, then you have rights over the land, water, forests and wealth of the country. Whereas Vanvasi means people who live in forests.
There is an ideology behind the word Vanvasi. First of all, this word tries to erase your history, your languages, your way of life. On the other hand, when they call you Vanvasi, it means that forest dwellers or Vanvasi should not get the right to land, water or forest. Mr. Gandhi will also address an election rally in Shahdol today.