“Congress has appointed no tribal Chief Minister in the 21st century,” says Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

On June 11, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw alleged that the Congress had not appointed any tribal chief minister in the 21st century, barring the largely tribal-dominated northeastern states.

Ashwini Vaishnaw, the recently appointed Information and Broadcasting Minister, mentioned in a post on X that the BJP has designated four tribal leaders as Chief Ministers: Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda in Jharkhand, Vishnu Deo Sai in Chhattisgarh, and Mohan Majhi in Odisha.

On June 11, Mohan Majhi was elected as the Odisha Chief Minister at a meeting of newly elected BJP MLAs in the state.

“Something worth thinking about…Excluding the Northeastern states, which are largely tribal-dominated, Congress has appointed NO TRIBAL CM in the 21st century,” Ashwini Vaishnaw said on X. “And even in Assam, BJP made Shri Sarbananda Sonowal the CM, while Congress made no tribal,” he said.

Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the BJP also nominated Droupadi Murmu for the position of President and backed P A Sangma in the 2012 presidential election.

Ashwini Vaishnaw added, “The Congress opposed both candidates. This provides insight into which party prioritises tribal empowerment.”