Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who celebrated Diwali for third time in a row with the tribal Vantangiya community, said the tribals now celebrate the festival in real sense as till two years ago, their villages did not even have basic facilities.
“Today, members of the Vantangiya community have access to all the facilities like housing, toilets, roads and schools. The exile of Lord Ram ended in 14 years but that of the Vantangiyas did not end for over 100 years. The exile of these people ended in 2017 when the BJP government came to power in the state and started working for their welfare,” the Chief Minister said while addressing members of this community.
Accusing the opposition parties of playing divisive politics, the CM said previous governments never took care of these people. “These people and their families got their rights only after the formation of BJP government in 2017,” he added.
Yogi said only after declaring 38 Vantangiya villages as revenue villages, basic facilities such as housing, toilets, schools, pure drinking water, pucca roads, health centres, pension etc could be provided. He insisted that he is working towards bringing ‘Ram Rajya’ in the state.
He inaugurated and laid foundation stones of projects worth Rs 1.32 crore for the Vantangiya community. He also gave housing certificates to the villagers and took stock of the ongoing development works. He also participated in ‘grih-pravesh’ puja of a Vantangiya family who got their house constructed under Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana.
The Chief Minister wished them a bright future and distributed sweets among children of the village. Celebrating Diwali with the community is not new for Yogi. When he was a Member of Parliament, he used to distribute toffees, sweets, books and other education material among members of the Vantangiya community every Diwali. He had also raised the issues of Vantangiyas in Parliament. Yogi established a school from his personal resources in Vantangiya locality known as Tinkonia.
After he became the Chief Minister, he announced millions of rupees worth of development schemes for the Vantangiya villages.
The Chief Minister said a a grand festival concluded in Ayodhya with Deepotsav, symbolising nationalism with collectivism. “For previous governments, festivals had became mediums of mourning. During previous governments, Forest and Police departments exploited forest dwellers. But in our government, they are accorded their rights,” Yogi said.
He also talked about Kanya Sumangala Yojana which his government has launched. Explaining the benefits of the scheme, Yogi said it will help empower girls and the government will provide Rs 15,000 for the girl child.
Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yogi said that for the first time in the country, the Centre is giving basic amenities to the poor. “Under his (Modi’s) leadership, the country is making steady progress and the poor are getting their rights,” he said.
Among the projects that the Chief Minister inaugurated included a 4.75-metre khadanja road from Gorakhpur Cantonment to Rajahi railway line. The construction work of Anganwadi Kendra building in Vantangiya village Chilbilwa and tin shed construction work for primary school in Ambagh and Jungle Tinkonia No-3 were inaugurated by the Chief Minister, who also laid the foundation stone of a 600-metre road in Tinkonia No. 2.