Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address the BJP's national convention for tribal leaders to be held between February 15 and February 20. BJP National General Secretary Radhamohandas Agarwal Wednesday arrived in Vadodara to oversee the preparations for the mega event. PM Modi-led central government had set a three-year deadline to "screen a seven crore tribal population" for sickle cell anemia, said Agarwal. Accompanied by Gujarat BJP vice-president Gordhan Zadafiya and Lok Sabha MPs Ranjan Bhatt of Vadodara and Geeta Rathwa of Chhota Udepur, Agarwal visited the ground near the Panjrapole to oversee the preparations for the tribal convention. "PM Modi will address a tribal convention of the BJP in Vadodara, which is one of the two conventions to be held in the country. This one is for Western India, which will see participation from the party tribal leaders from the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Goa as well as the states of South India. The number of attendees is high. So we have zeroed in on the Vadodara Panjrapole ground," Zadafiya said. Speaking at the media interaction, Agarwal said that PM Modi had "chosen" to address the Vadodara convention due to "his roots" in Gujarat. "This is a convention for party leaders from the tribal community. We are holding two conventions - one in Ranchi in Jharkhand and one in Vadodara for the Western and Southern zones. Only the organisational-level tribal leaders of the BJP will be invited to participate in the convention. Today, the BJP's reach among the tribal communities is so deep that we cannot call all tribal workers or it will become unmanageable.PM Modi has gone to UP (as an MP) from Gujarat but he has Gujarat in his heart; we feel jealous. When we asked him which convocation will you address, he chose Vadodara," he said. Agarwal said that it was due to PM Modi's "relentless efforts" that tribals in the country had "seen development in the ten years of the NDA government". "What PM Modi has done for tribals in ten years, no one did in the last 65 years. Right from education to health to empowerment of tribal women, Modiji has personally developed the beneficiary schemes. Under the NDA-ruled government, the number of Eklavya schools has gone up from 166 ten years ago towards the goal of making 700 Eklavya schools," Agarwal said. Agarwal also said that the central government had begun a campaign to tackle sickle cell anemia among tribals- a genetic disorder that is caused by mutations in the beta-globin genes that result in faulty red blood cells, which carry oxygen to the body. Until Modi took over as PM, he said, no one paid attention to sickle cell anemia. "I am a pediatrician, and I know several tribal children died due to deficiency of blood and it was not due to nutrition deficiencies but due to inherited disorders. In July 2023, PM Modi started a campaign to screen tribal populations under 40 years of age, who have chromosomes of sickle cell anemia in order to tackle this disease. The goal is that we will treat the deficiency medically. The announcement was made in July 2023 and today, at the end of January, I am proud to share that out of the 7 crore tribal population, we have screened 58 lakh. We will achieve the target within three years to deal with sickle cell anemia," he said.
