‘Chhindwara Model’ of Kamal Nath to Win Over Tribals in MP Election

In an effort to win over the state’s tribal people before the Assembly elections, Kamal Nath, a former chief minister and the president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, has touted the development projects carried out in his home district as the “Chhindwara Model.”

The seasoned leader said that no one had requested that factories, training centers, universities, or schools be built in his home area, but he had still done so for his personal happiness and not for political gain.

The lone Congress member from Madhya Pradesh is Nakul Nath, the son of Chhindwara’s nine-time Lok Sabha winner Kamal Nath, who claimed that his home district’s villages had power at a time when just 22% of MP had electricity.

He said this on Sunday in Indore while speaking at a “tribal youth panchayat” event sponsored by the state Congress.

“I had presented the then-prime minister Indira Gandhi with a plan to totally empower Chhindwara, using electricity as the key means. Since then, I have decided to turn Chhindwara into a center for businesses and educational institutions, and I have done so, but not for political reasons. I did it to improve the lives of indigenous people. All of this was done by me to improve Chhindwara’s youth’s future, and today it serves as an example for the whole nation, according to Kamal Nath.

In his speech to a sizable crowd of tribal teenagers, Kamal Nath urged them to go to Chhindwara and see the way of life there. “When I first entered politics, I used to invite the indigenous people to speak. Make a loud noise. You must go up to claim what is rightfully yours since nobody will give it to you. I’m asking you the same thing today. Raise your voices in support of your rights, urged Kamal Nath.

The former Chief Minister said he was startled that youngsters had made requests today for things that should have been granted to them years ago while pointing to a list of demands made by the “tribal youth panchayat.” “I was truly startled that the BJP administration failed to give even the necessities of life, but in 2023 you are requesting for schools and universities. Everything that you requested has been fulfilled in Chhindwara. And if your expectations aren’t met, don’t hold it against me alone; your local MLAs are also accountable for it, he said.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been criticized by Kamal Nath for beginning to provide shoes, mattresses, and umbrellas to the tribal people as the elections approach. For the last 18 years, what have you been doing? Hypocrisy should be constrained. Even more astounding, you (CM Chouhan) are organizing an event to provide indigenous people sleeping bags and umbrellas. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP set up a well-organized corruption apparatus, which has now been completely exposed, according to Kamal Nath.

The Chhindwara model, however, has not emerged as a hot topic during the Madhya Pradesh elections. There has been talk for years about the many startups, small and medium manufacturing businesses, and neighborhood call centers that have emerged in the previous ten years and provide job prospects to the local populace.

Except for the 1997 by-elections, the Congress candidate has never lost the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat since 1951 when the first elections were conducted in the nation. The Chhindwara seat has been held by former chief minister and union minister Kamal Nath and his family since 1980; even during the ‘Modi wave’ of 2014 and 2019, the BJP candidate was unable to win.

Digvijaya Singh, a former two-term chief minister and Rajya Sabha member, and Kanhaiya Kumar, the NSUI president, also spoke to the “tribal youth panchayat.” “Union Home Minister Amit Shah and MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra both are in Indore today,” said Kumar, a former president of the JNU Student Union who has consistently been targeted by the BJP for allegedly using contentious chants in 2016. If I’m incorrect, arrest me, and stop misleading the public with your propaganda.

When Kumar was president of the JNU Student Union in 2016, Narottam Mishra, a hard-Hindutva activist in Madhya Pradesh, brought up the allegedly divisive chants Kumar had used and said that “Kamal Nath is sharing stage with those who raised slogans to divide the country.”

Later on in the day, Amit Shah will go to Indore. He’ll speak in front of BJP members. Narottam Mishra, the state’s home minister and the minister responsible for Indore, has been unleashing vicious criticisms on Congressmen, particularly Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh.