Chhattisgarh State Congress President Deepak Baij on Saturday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government is getting forests cut at gunpoint to benefit its industrialist friend Adani and the tribals protesting against the cutting are being beaten up.
Badge reached Hasdev along with senior leaders of the party and met the injured tribals who were victims of police brutality. The tribal community and the general public were opposing the deforestation in the forest area. The women and men who met during this time showed marks of police brutality on their bodies. Some have head injuries and some have marks of sticks on their bodies.
Baij said, ‘To benefit its friend Adani, the BJP government is getting the forests cut at gunpoint and the tribals protesting against the cutting are being beaten up.’
He said that when Chief Minister Vishnu Dev Sai was the president of the state BJP, he was agitating against deforestation and today when he is the Chief Minister, the people who are opposing the deforestation are being beaten by the police. The Congress government had stopped the felling of Hasdeo Aranya area, by passing a resolution in the Assembly demanding the Central Government to stop the allocation of new mines in the Hasdeo Aranya area. A resolution to stop the felling of Hasdeo forest was passed unanimously in the Assembly, in which BJP MLAs were also involved.
Baij said that the lathi charge was carried out with serious barbarity. Rural tribals have been protesting for years. Those protesting against tree cutting, demanding investigation into the fake Gram Sabha, at the behest of the government deployed thousands of police forces and got the tree cutting done. The protesting tribals say that they were attacked with petrol bombs and stones were brought in a pickup truck. About 20 to 30 tribals suffered head injuries. This government wants to kill the tribals and hand over the coal mines to a private industrialist. Tree cutting started on the second day of the swearing in of the Sai government. Why is the blood of tribals being shed in such a hurry under the rule of a tribal Chief Minister? The government wants to kill the tribals. Industrialists want to mine coal on the dead bodies of tribals. This government is anti-tribal.
He said, ‘The government gives the slogan of planting trees in the name of mother and is cutting thousands of trees in the name of father. The Chief Minister should answer to whom he wants to hand over the water, forests and land of the tribals. Under whose instructions is the government working?
Baij said, ‘As soon as the BJP government was formed, permission was given for felling of Hasdev forests due to which this situation has been created. The Chief Minister is working under the pressure of Adani and is crushing the sentiments of the tribal society. The forest of Hasdev Aranya is revered by the tribals. The BJP government has descended into dictatorship to capture water, forests and land. It is a matter of great shame that despite the Chief Minister being from the tribal community in the state, maximum atrocities are being committed on the tribal class. The Congress party demands that deforestation of Hasdev Aranya should be stopped immediately.
