Date: 25th March 2008
Starting his 5 day tour of Karnataka, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi arrived at BR Hills of Chamarajanagar district. Striking a personal cord with tribal people present he said "just before I arrived here, I had honey and bread at one of your homes. Thank you very much for it. I am very impressed with the work done in your schools and hospitals. As I walked in here, I saw traditional burial grounds. When I inquired as to how old they were, I was told that they were 3000 years old. I have also noticed that forests here are very well preserved."
Rahul Gandhi was particularly impressed with how well preserved the forests in this part of the country are. Complimenting the tribal people he said, "at a school here I was told that after 14 years of research, it has been found that tribal people don't hamper our environment. While they were telling me that it took 14 years to figure this out, I said to myself what a strange waste it was. There have been forests here, there have been tribal people here for the last 3000 years. Yet we still need to prove that tribal people do not damage the forests. As part of my work I meet lots of foreign leaders who tell me that we need to take a very serious look at our environment. I tell them that in my country, our tribal people have been taking care of it for 3000 years."
Citing an example of how knowledgeable tribal people are, Rahul Gandhi said, " I would like to share one more story related to you, but it is from another part of our country. When Tsunami struck the Andaman Islands' the tribal people ran away from the sea, while the non tribal ran towards the sea." He explained that the non tribal people had rushed towards the sea hoping that when the water receded there would be lots of fish ashore. Adding to this he said "This is a very good analogy. We look at short term gains ignoring the long term gains. Tribal people always have the right approach. As an aftermath of Tsunami, not a single tribal died. You have very valuable knowledge within you. There is wisdom of your own situation within you. And for this wisdom we thank you very much. We ignore this wisdom at our own peril."
Addressing tribal youth, Rahul Gandhi said "I would request and advice you to step forward and take up leadership which is waiting for you". People gave him a memorandum and while going through it he said that the central government has done a lot of work for tribal development. And at the center of it is the Tribal Act. "It is a weapon to empower you. There is no question of not getting it implemented", he added.
Summing up the speech Rahul Gandhi told the tribal people, "Rest of the world will pay attention to your views on environment. "
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