Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Sunday (November 3, 2024) termed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) manifesto for the Jharkhand Assembly elections as Jumla (claptraps). Mr. Soren said while he was doing developmental work in Jharkhand, the BJP-led Central government put him in jail to hamper the State’s growth.
At a rally in Garhwa, he said, “They have promised gas cylinder for ₹500 but what about charging ₹12,000 [per year for 12 cylinders] for 14 years? When election comes, they promise Jumla (claptraps). The people of Jharkhand are not going to fall for the BJP’s rhetoric. If the BJP has its way, it will suck out every drop of blood from people’s bodies.”
Reacting to the BJP’s promise to drive out ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’, Mr. Soren accused the party of making a deal with Bangladesh. “First, they give shelter to the former prime minister of Bangladesh in our country and then blame Jharkhand? Under which law her helicopter was allowed to land and how come she has been given shelter here. Do they have any internal deal with Bangladesh? The security of the international border has nothing to do with the State government, the Home Ministry has the responsibility to guard it. Bangladeshi infiltration takes place from the BJP ruled State and they blame Jharkhand. BJP people are imposters,” he said.
On the BJP’s promise of CBI investigation into ‘irregularities’ in the conduct of JSSC-CGL exam if voted to power, Mr. Soren said, “There is no end to their Jumla. Now they are talking about CBI investigation. We made a strict law to prevent paper leak. All those who tried to fail the CGL exam have been identified. The election results will come and all those people will go to jail.”
Talking about UCC
While the BJP has promised to implement Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the State, Mr. Soren said that he would never allow it.
“There would be no UCC and NRC in Jharkhand but only Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT), Santhal Pargana Tenancy (SPT) Acts and PESA - Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996. The BJP’s only motive is to divide society,” he said. PESA was enacted to promote, recognise, and empower the social, economic, cultural, and political way of life of Scheduled Tribes.
Mr. Soren said lakhs of ‘tribal brothers and sisters from Jharkhand in Assam’ were fighting for their existence and identity. In Chhattisgarh, forests were being destroyed by the NDA coalition and the BJP government, and tribals were being driven away, he said, calling the BJP ‘anti-tribal’.
Polarisation is BJP’s only tool: Congress
Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh has said that by seeing the BJP’s manifesto it is clear that the party has only one campaign issue: polarisation and the spread of the communal virus.
“The language of the Union Home Minister who released the manifesto, and that of its campaign-in-charge - the Assam CM - makes it abundantly clear that the BJP has simply no answer to the extremely popular and impactful schemes of the JMM-INC government in the state. It will depend ONLY on the spread of bigotry, prejudice, and the incitement of hatred in the name of religion,” Mr. Ramesh said on Sunday (November 3, 2024) in a post on X.
He further said, “There is complete silence on the issue of a caste census and on the Union Government’s responsibilities to ensure the state’s development. Why has the non-biological PM’s Government denied the Rs 1.36 lakh crores it owes the Jharkhand Government on account of coal royalties?”
Amit Shah rally
Later in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed three rallies in Dhalbhumgarh, Barkatha and Simaria in support of NDA candidates in Jharkhand.
While addressing a rally at Ghatsila for Babulal Soren, son of former CM Champai Soren contesting from the constituency, Mr. Shah called the Hemant Soren government the most corrupt in India.
“Infiltrators lure our tribal sisters and daughters in Jharkhand, marry them and grab their land. The tribal population is decreasing throughout Jharkhand because of Bangladeshi infiltrators. You form a BJP government here, we will drive out the infiltrators from Jharkhand,” Mr. Shah said.
Published - November 03, 2024 09:08 pm IST
