The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in the Opposition in the Jharkhand Assembly, created a ruckus on the first day of the monsoon session on Friday, attacking the Hemant Soren-led government over high unemployment, and the alleged deterioration of law and order in the State.
Before the commencement of the monsoon session, BJP legislators held a protest, holding placards with slogans about the State’s law-and-order situation. They also demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation probe the murder of local Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Subhash Munda in Ranchi.
‘Crumbling law and order’
“The way Subhash Munda was murdered in broad daylight proves how common people are unsafe in the State. There are big rackets which criminals operate despite being behind bars. The faith in the police is over now,” said BJP MLA Amar Kumar Bauri.
Fellow BJP MLA Jaiprakash Bhai Patel said that the youth of Jharkhand were raising their voices against the new recruitment policy, but the government is not taking any action about it. “During election, the Heman Soren government promised to provide five lakh jobs, but after becoming the Chief Minister, he did not bother about the youth of Jharkhand. Law and order is equally in bad shape and people are feeling threatened over here,” he added.
‘Why mum on Manipur?”
Rebutting sharply, senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and transport minister Champai Soren slammed the BJP for ignoring the Manipur situation.
“Why are the BJP leaders mum over the Manipur violence? If there is any incident in our State, we quickly take action, but what about Manipur? On Monday, we will raise this issue in a bigger way,” Mr. Soren said.
The government has decided to table three important Bills when the Assembly session resumes on Monday, which had earlier been returned by former Governor Ramesh Bais, citing several errors. The three bills are The Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021; the Khatiyan Bill, and the OBC Reservation Bill.
Suspension lifted
Meanwhile, the Congress on Friday ended the suspension of three of its MLAs in Jharkhand — Irfan Ansari, Naman Bixal Kongari, and Rajesh Kachhap — who had been caught carrying a large amount of cash in West Bengal last year.
“The suspension of our three MLAs has been ended by All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge. We had already sent the recommendation to the high command and finally the decision has been taken,” said Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur.
The three MLAs were arrested by West Bengal police while traveling in Howrah carrying cash worth ₹48 lakh on July 30, 2022. Congress MLA Anup Singh filed a case against them, alleging a conspiracy to topple Mr. Hemant Soren’s government in Jharkhand. The party had also formed a committee to probe the matter. The Calcutta High Court later granted bail to all three accused in the case.
Mr. Ansari thanked Mr. Kharge, Jharkhand Congress in-charge Avinash Pandey, and senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and K.C. Venugopal, stating that the suspension was due to a misunderstanding.
