En route to gherao Jharkhand Secretariat, BJP workers lathi-charged by police

Earlier, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda told the gathering that people from villages have come to Ranchi to be part of the protest against the “bad governance” of the Hemant Soren-led government. “The entire state is fed up with the corrupt administration; the women are unsafe, the youth are unemployed and the farmers are helpless and that is why people have gathered in such large numbers…There is loot going on in Jharkhand…and entire Jharkhand’s future is in the dark,” he said.

Munda emphasised that the lands of tribal communities are being looted and the same people are feeling unsafe in Jharkhand. “If there is an old woman left in a family, then the police and the mafia in nexus are murdering her and getting the piece of land. The land of Adivasis is being looted under the protection of the government and BJP workers have gathered to decide on the future of Jharkhand,” he added.

Police sources said that barricades were installed at Dhurwa roundabout to prevent the protesters from proceeding, however, certain BJP workers tried to jump and break the barricades, resulting in a lathi charge. (PTI Photo)

Munda said that in a democracy, people choose the government and the Secretariat is a place from where they get “justice” but when the same place gives them “darkness”, the time is right for a ‘Sachivalaya Gherav (Surround Sachivalaya)’ protest.

BJP National Vice-President and former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das called the government “Balu chor, commission khor sarkar (Sand thief, commission earning government)”. Das said that people are not getting pensions, housing and even rice, which was promised under the green ration card.

“The JMM stands for ‘Jharkhand Mudra Mochan (Jharkhand Money Minting)’ Party and when this JMM-Congress-RJD government has been in power, Jharkhand has been ashamed of itself (a reference to Madhu Koda’s tenure and his subsequent arrest in the mining scam). And today also the same government runs Jharkhand. The Congress is playing the role of recovery agent…The people are fed up with appeasement, dynastic, caste-based politics and also upset with corruption, unemployment, and Naxalism. This government is for the corrupt and of the corrupt,” he said.

Echoing similar sentiments and appealing to the BJP workers to stage a peaceful protest, BJP’s legislature party leader Babulal Marandi also hit out at the government for corruption.