Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday seemed to respond to constant barbs from the Congress about his party's stance on adivasis and said in Ranchi that it was that Atal Bihari Vajpayee government that created a Ministry of Tribal Affairs. Over the past week, Congress's Sonia and Rahul Gandhi had been telling their audiences in the state that the Narendra Modi government was propped up by industrialists, who will deprive the adivasis of various rights granted during the UPA governments. Modi, who spoke for just over 32 minutes at the Morabadi ground in the afternoon, termed the Congress's claims lies. "..Adivasis have been here even during the time of Bhagwan Ram.. But the Congress did not know that there are adivasis in the country," Modi said. He added that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, in addition to creating a separate Tribal Affairs Ministry, had also budgeted extra funds for tribal welfare. "Wherever adivasis live in large numbers, they have voted for a BJP government - in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Jharkhand also has a large adivasi population," Modi trailed off, which led to the crowd crying out, "BJP will form a government here!" Modi of course left out states like Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Orissa and Assam - which have a larger percentage of adivasis in the general population than either Maharashtra or Gujarat - and do not have BJP governments in place. Modi also cited the Chhattisgarh state government as an example of the model of governance he is promoting. "Raman Singh has done more for adivasis than what Congress can think of. Though both states have the same age, Chhattisgarh has built a new capital. In Jharkhand, all offices run from rented premises," Modi said. He used this to attack JMM leaders Shibu Soren and son Hemant Soren, also the chief minister. "This is because baap-beta do not want to do anything for you," Modi said. Even as he effectively burnt bridges with the JMM - which, under the leadership of Hemant Soren, is expected to put up a good performance despite a resurgent BJP and which could be willing to support the BJP's efforts to form a government if it falls short of majority - it was evident that Modi had been briefed to play the tribal card by his advisors. At Chandwa in Latehar on November 21, Modi had not mentioned his party's plans for adivasis at all. At an earlier point in his speech too, Modi had attacked the Sorens. While talking of how his state government supplied drinking water to arid Gujarat in large-diameter pipes, Modi claimed the Sorens had done nothing to solve the drinking water crisis in Jharkhand. "The baap-beta who had a sarkar here can sit in the car along with their family and drive inside the pipe to go to the other end. That's how large those pipes are," Modi said, to laughter. As usual, Modi seemed to establish a rapport with his audience. At one point in his speech, he said, "There is a herb to solve all your problems. That herb is?" and waited. As if on cue, the crowd chanted, "Modi!" With a chuckle, the Prime Minister corrected them, saying he was taking of Vikas - development. However, the state unit of the BJP will be alarmed at how thin the crowd in the Morabadi - which overlooks Shibu Soren's residence - seemed to be. Though Modi campaigned for 10 candidates - all of whom were present on-stage - the number of people were moderate at best by Modi's standards. "We did not want to trouble the people from other constituencies and asked only people from the Ranchi area to come," was the excuse Sanjay Seth, the BJP leader who was the emcee for the day, provided. There seemed to be a major mix-up in terms of timing, with even senior leaders unsure about when exactly the Jamshedpur and Ranchi rallies would be. Prabhat Khabar, the state's most-widely read daily, printed the time of the Ranchi meeting as 1.10 in the afternoon. Modi, on the other hand, was on stage minutes past 1 PM, with large parts of the ground empty. Modi's opening remarks were about his party's single-point agenda this election - to end what the PM called, "tooty-footy," "aadha-adhura" governments and to form a stable government. "In a coalition government, the parties blame each other. This means that the people cannot demand answers," said Modi. Recalling that Jharkhand's voters gave his party 12 of 14 seats from the state, thus making it possible to have a stable government in Delhi, Modi said, "Five years now, you can pull the Modi government's ear if we have not done good work. The people of the country have the right to pull the ear of the government of the day. But whose ear will you pull if you don't know who the leader is?" The PM put the onus on himself to help Jharkhand. "If you give me majority, I will give you a better Jharkhand. This state, which can light up the country, is in darkness. I want to change that," he said. Modi touched upon a topic rarely made a part of political discourse when he talked about how young women from the state have to travel to work in the kitchens of faraway cities: "We need programmes to stop this. I want to do this work." Modi used a favourite speaking point when he noted that Jharkhand had just turned 14 years old. He went on to say that 13-18 years are important in the life of every child: the PM likes to use the analogy - this newspaper was present in Chhaapra, Bihar on April 30 this year, when campaigning for eventual winner Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Modi told young voters that 18-28 years is the most crucial phase of their lives. In Ranchi on Saturday, Modi stressed that these assembly elections were crucial for the state's future: "Some parents do not take care of their children between 13 and 18 years and then complain that children took the wrong path. This phase is important for Jharkhand as well: I am willing to take care of you; give me full majority."
