Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren stepped down as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand on Wednesday moments before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him on allegations of money laundering. Mr. Soren faces charges of benefiting from tribal land transactions based on forged documents. The judiciary will examine these allegations, but what necessitates the arrest of an accused is a serious question that the judiciary needs to settle in clearer and enforceable terms. The ED, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), commands sweeping powers of arrest. Barriers for bail are very high in PMLA cases. Petitions challenging the July 2022 judgment of the Supreme Court upholding these powers are pending before it. Meanwhile, the ED has raised the stakes by arresting a Chief Minister of an Opposition party, which cannot be viewed as a routine law enforcement event. Mr. Soren’s lawyers mentioned in the Court on February 1 that this has implications for the polity of the country, seeking an urgent hearing of his plea against the arrest. Meanwhile, the ED has asked Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on February 2, after his failure to turn up for questioning four times. Mr. Soren has called for ‘a war against a feudal system that oppresses poor, dalit and tribals’, terming the case against him an assault on the tribal communities that he represents.
Faced with allegations, politicians often seek cover behind their community identities, but it is undeniable that the long arm of the Indian law reaches the weaker sections of society more easily. The JMM’s troubles did not end with Mr. Soren’s arrest. The selection of a new Chief Minister became entangled in a family feud. Instead, as a compromise, it will be a veteran fighter for tribal rights, Champai Soren, but the Governor has not yet invited him to form the government. The Jharkhand police has filed a first information report based on a complaint by Mr. Soren under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but it is unlikely to stand. That said, ED investigations have now established a pattern that fits perfectly with the political designs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr. Soren’s arrest follows the reengineering of the alliance in Bihar that brought the BJP back to power, where the Governor acted swiftly to facilitate it. As on multiple occasions, leaders under the ED’s scanner magically turned clean once they joined hands with the BJP. The distinction that central agencies make sometimes appears to be not between the corrupt and the clean, but whether one is with the BJP or not.
