SHIMLA/STAUN: Indian National Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra addressed her last Parivartan Pratigya rally at Staun in Sirmaur to counter the impact of BJP’s Vijay Sankalp rally that had flagged the issue of Scheduled Tribal (ST) status  accorded to Hattis of the Trans Giri region under the double engine BJP government. 

Addressing BJP’s Vijay Sankalp rally at Staun earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had targeted Hattis there  to corner Congress in Shillai, Shree  Renuka Ji , Pachaad, Poanta Sahib and Nahan constituencies of Sirmaur district. 

‘Loyiya’-clad Hattis of Trans-Giri region have got ST status after 50 years of struggle for which BJP government took the full credit.

Interestingly Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did not utter a word on issue of scheduled tribal status to the people of Giri Par region in Staun rally. 

Congress in Sirmaur  has also remained a divided house among different camps. On the other, BJP is also facing dalits  groups for its support for the high caste Hattis of Tans-Giri region.   

Why BJP and Congress chose Staun in Shillai? It is a hotbed of Hattis politics. Hattis are also spread in Renuka and Pachaad, which are also dominated by the Dalits politics as well.

In Shillai, Congress’ sitting MLA, Harshvardhan Chauhan, who has been MLAs five times, is facing BJP’s Baldev Singh Tomar, who is also one among Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s close pals.  

In Renuka ji (SC),  Vinay Singh of Congress is facing Reena Kashyap of BJP.  

In Pachaad(SC),  Congress rebel Gangu Ram Musafir is giving sleepless night to Congress candidate Dyal  Piyari , while BJP’s Reena Kashyap is  also trying to punch holes in Congress votebank.    

Ajay Solanki is contesting against BJP's Dr Rajiv Bindal in Nahan, an epicenter of Sirmaur politics.

In a multi-corner contest in Paonta Sahib, Congress Kirnesh Jung is facing BJP’s former minister Sukh Ram Chaudhary and AAP Manish Thakur, while four independents are also in the ring, cutting into the votebanks of both parties.      

Not only this, even BJP has not made an issue out of the ST status to Hattis elsewhere and has not cited it as its major achievement in other parts of the state.

In fact, both the parties fear backlash from Dalits and other backward castes mainly in Renuka and Pachaad  as these pressure groups have been opposing ST status to the Hattis with provocation from the rival parties.

These castes and their support groups fear they would "lose their SC rights and reservation"- an issue that Amit Shah had also tried to address at Staun.

Shah had blamed Congress spreading baseless fears among the dalits. He had assured them that they would not “lose anything and their interests and rights as  given in Indian Constitution,  would be protected as they were earlier”.     

Congress chose to ignore  the "Hatti card" played up by the BJP in Staun rally. 

Rounding up her “Parivartan Pratigya rally campaign at Staun, countering BJP’s Vijay Sankalp rallies, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reiterated her earlier speeches, urging people to vote in the Congress government for implementation of Old Pension scheme, relief from unemployment and in support of economic empowerment of women.

She did not touch this sensitive issue and instead launched her attack against the Jai Ram Thakur government and holding it responsible for the rising rate of unemployment, rising prices and debt of Rs 70,000 crore.   

She said it is Janata of Himachal Pradesh who are fighting the elections against the BJP government, which did not care for them for last five years.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra cited promises made in the Congress 10-point Pratigya Patr.

She assured the rally crowd that Congress would fulfill all its guarantees and implement old pension scheme in the first cabinet meeting when it comes to power in the state.

She recalled her grandmother, Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister, who had created Himachal Pradesh in 1971. Indira Gandhi and founder chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Dr YS Parmar, Virbhadra Singh  took developed state in alliance with the people.

She invoked local goddesses, Renuka Ji, Bangayni Mata to woo the voters.

She said that Vir Sainiks of Himachal are protecting the borders, but the BJP government’s new Agniveer scheme has left them in lurch as it provides no job security for the soldiers.  

Priyanka Gandhi claimed Congress government would provide one Lakh jobs to unemployed youth in its first year.

She said there are over 30 lakh Yuva in Himachal Pradesh, out of which 15 lakh are unemployed.

She claimed that because of BJP government’s wrong policy of privatizing the public sector units(PSUs), problem of unemployment is getting worse every year in the country.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra charged the central government has waived off loans of big industrialists in excess of lakes of crores of rupees, but the same time it says it cannot give OPS to its employees.  

She said the employees are the backbone of government. PSUs together with the small industries provide maximum employment in the country, but over 63 thousand sarkari posts are vacant in Himachal alone.

She charged that Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has been saying that the Congress guarantees cannot be implemented just because it cannot be done.  

People should change the Chief Minister by voting in the Congress government, she said.

She claimed the massive response that she has got in the rallies is an indication that people of Himachal will uphold their Rivaaj by voting out BJP from power.  

Earlier she had addressed rallies in Solan, Mandi, Una, Nagrota in Kangra countering BJP’s Vijay Sankalp rallies.